Amnesia
by Mr. Mega1423
Summary: A young man awakens in a cave, with no memory of who he is or was. He quickly finds himself caught in a conflict between a peaceful people known as the Mimiga and a megalomaniac known as the Doctor, but something seemed... familiar to him. Will he ever overcome his amnesia, and find his purpose? (Narration of the story, with some twists) Rated T for violence and that kinda thing.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Void.

That was all he could see, all he could hear, and all he could think about.

Until he realized: He could think!

He was conscious!

Realizing this, he told his eyes to open, and looked around. He was alone in a small, dark cave.

Where in the world was he?

He could not remember anything at all, not even his name.

He tried his very best to remember something, anything, and was barely able to remember something.

He focused as hard as he could, and a word snapped into his mind.

Quote.

His name is Quote.

He looked down, and saw that his skin was bleach white. That didn't seem normal... but for all he knew, it was. He looked down and saw some water at his feet, and saw his own reflection in it.

He had black hair, dark blue eyes, two green antennae on the side of his head, and was wearing a green scarf, black muscle shirt, red trousers, black boots, and a red-white cap with a quotation on the front reading: _Fortes fortuna iuvat._

Fortune favours the brave.

He secured the cap further on his head and got up. He jumped up and saw light spilling in through a small doorway. He walked through the doorway, but was disapointed to find himseelf in another, larger cave. At least this one was brighter.

He turned to his left and walked around, but was stopped by a wall of rubble and a small, round critter. The creature began hopping toward him angrily, and he dodged out of the way. He ran the other way. He saw that the cave extended deeper this way, but also saw some bats and spikes in the way.

Those spikes looked extremely sharp. He'd have to be extremely careful not to impale himself on them.

He began to trek through the cave carefully, and was able to evade the pesky bats and dodge the spikes. He jumped over some water into a small hole, dodged a bat and a critter, and ran further into the cave.

He landed in some water, and remembered that he could not breathe water. He quickly scrambled out and saw another doorway through the jaws of a stone lion head.

He entered into what seemed to be a small abode, accompanied by a sleeping old, tan man with grey hair. He tried to wake up the sleeping man, but was unsuccesful to say the least.

Just then, he noticed a chest tucked away in the corner, and walked over to it. He knew he shouldn't snoop through others' property, but it was almost like this guy was asking for it.

He opened the chest, and found a small, blue pistol inside. There was a name printed on the side of it.

Polar Star Mk. I

He didn't know why, but it was as if he had already mastered pistol wielding some time ago, and began to spin the pistol by its trigger around his finger.

He grinned.

Now he could defend himself.

He exited the small abode and saw some creatures awaiting him.

Time for his first taste of combat, or so it seemed.

A critter growled and jumped at him, and he took aim and fired. The pistol released a glowing blue projectile that hit the critter, which released a sharp yelp. Another shot, and the creature was dead.

He proceeded to navigate back through where he came, shooting anything that came too close to him. He came back to the rubble wall which impeded his progress earlier, and began shooting it.

It crumbled away, revealing a door. He jumped up to the door and grabbed the handle. He heard growling, and felt something bite him. He jumped back and saw that the door was alive. He shot it multiple times, and it vanished. He walked through the doorway.

Possessed doors? He knew _that_ wasn't right.

However, he was abruptly shook from his thoughts when his right foot met air instead of ground.

He tipped forward and closed his eyes.

This was not going to be a pleasant adventure, was it?


	2. Chapter 2: First Encounter

Chapter 2: First Encounter

**A/N: Dialogue will be a combination of the original Aeon Genesis translation and the Nicalis translation. I just felt that was worth mentioning.**

An angry, scarred, red-eyed, white-furred person was standing next to a smaller white-furred person.

"Hand over that key!" The former barked.

"No, I won't!" The latter pouted.

"Are you trying to protect that Sue girl?!" The former asked rhetorically, "She's a stranger! An outsider! She's not one of us!"

"Sue is a good person! I'd never betray her!" The latter shouted.

The red-eyed one sighed.

"Toroko... when the Doctor comes, you know he'll take someone else away. If we don't turn Sue over, it may be you he takes next!" He tried to reason.

The other one, named Toroko, shook her head.

"But... but..." She tried protesting.

"_The key, Toroko!_" The former demanded.

A pale, black haired young man with a red-white cap descended from the ceiling. It was Quote. He fell down into the ground with a bang, causing the red-eyed person to fall back and Toroko to run away in fear.

Quote mentally grumbled. He'd promised himself to stay completely silent, no matter what. He didn't want to show his enemies any signs of weakness.

That fall was not pleasant.

He got up and looked down at the white-furred creature laying on the floor, who got up and looked at him quizzically.

"What? You're not an enemy?" He asked rhetorically, "I thought for sure it was them... Well, I'm King. I'm the number-one in this village, not that that means a whole lot, with only six of us left."

Quote wondered why there were so little of them left.

"Well, seven counting Sue. She's not one of us, though. She's just an outsider who showed up recently," King grumbled.

He looked around and grumbled.

"Blast that Toroko! She ran off when you fell," He muttered.

Quote decided to explore the village, and jumped down into some water. He ran over to a doorway, and entered into what seemed to be the village reservoir. He saw one of them sitting on a platform fishing, and jumped over to them.

"You lookin' for Sue?" The angler asked, and Quote nodded. "Yeah, I know her. That's the girl who stays cooped up in Arthur's house all the time, right?"

Quote shrugged his shoulders.

"She showed up here not too long ago. We found her washed up right here in the reservoir," He continued, "She doesn't seem to like us much... but I don't know why, since she's a Mimiga just like us."

So the villagers were called Mimiga. A nice-sounding name.

Quote looked down into the reservoir and caught a hint of some thing shiny. Curious, he jumped in and grabbed the shiny object. He quickly jumped out of the reservoir before he could drown, and examined the object.

It was a silver fish-shaped locket that seemed to have been treasured for years, given its condition. He looked up and saw the girl who ran off earlier, Toroko, watching him.

He stepped forward, and she ran off. He ran back into the village, where King had Toroko surrounded.

"Give me that key!" He shouted.

"_No!_" Toroko screamed, then barged through King and ran off. Quote walked over to the stunned Mimiga, who was growling with anger.

"**Toroko! **You're not getting away _that_ easily!" He shouted, but stayed down. He looked up at Quote. "You seem capable. Do me a favour and catch her, it's important."

Quote nodded slowly and jumped down to the lowest level of the village. She seemed to have run off into a shack. He opened the door to the shack and walked in.

"_You jerk!_"

He felt something collide into him, and felt a smack to his face. Toroko was on top of him and attacking him. In reflex, he kicked her off of him.

She landed on the ground and began to cry out. Quote unholstered his Polar Star and slowly walked over to her.

"Help me, help me!" She screamed after seeing the gun in his hands, and he quickly holstered it again. She was no fighter.

He knelt down and put his arms out to show he meant no harm. She got up and gave him a confused look.

"Huh? You're not with the Doctor?" She asked, and Quote nodded. He didn't even know who this Doctor was.

She nodded her head slowly. "Oh, sorry. You were worrying me. The Doctor is such a cruel and evil person... he shows up in our village and kidnaps Mimiga, at times even killing someone," She explained desolately, "The Doctor... he... killed my older brother."

He knew this Doctor seemed bad from what King said, but now he knew his goal.

He'd find this Doctor person and give him what he rightfully deserves. He pulled out the locket he found in the reservoir, which seemed to peak Toroko's interest.

"Oh! That pendant! You found it for me?" She asked happily. Quote just nodded slowly and gave it to her. She cradled the pendant and smiled. "Sue gave this to me... but..." She said, then put it back in Quote's hands. "I don't want it anymore. King gets bent out of shape when Sue and I get along," She explained, "Please, keep it."

Suddenly, the shack was shaken, and they both turned to the door. It seemed something _huge_ was bashing against it like a battering ram.

Quote put his hand on his trusty pistol as the door was bashed down.

"_**OH, YEAH!**_"

A large metal... thing with a face charged through the door and grinned at the two. Quote pointed the Polar Star at him. The... thing almost looked like a living, oversized toaster.

"I found you! It's no use hiding from me!" It bragged, "I've got the nose of a clever harrier!"

"Indeed you do," An arrogant female voice pierced the room, and a pale, blue-haired, green-robed woman with a staff phased into the room, floating in the air. "Yes, he has the nose, and dare I say the brain of a dog as well," She taunted.

"_Misery!_" The toaster shouted, and Quote raised an eyebrow. What kind of name is Misery? "I found her first!" He stated, stomping his oversized foot down.

Toroko began to panic.

"Y-you two are with the Doctor!" She squeaked. Misery stared down at her.

"You must be Sue, then. The Great Doctor has summoned you. Come with me." She said with faked kindness.

"Eh? But I'm not Sue!" Toroko shouted.

Light gathered at the end of Misery's staff, and Quote got between the two, holding his pistol threateningly.

Misery channeled a bubble which phased through Quote and enveloped around Toroko. He turned around and looked up at the now-floating Toroko, shocked.

She cried out in fear, and Misery floated up into the air and turned to the living toaster.

"Balrog. The rest is up to you," She stated, then flew out of the shack, with the bubble following behind her.

"No! Wait! You've got the wrong person!" Toroko screamed. Now it was just Quote and this thing, which seemed to be named Balrog, in the shack.

Balrog seemed extremely angry. "Not _this _again! I _**ALWAYS **_have to clean up!" He grumbled loudly, "And here I found her _**first!**_"

Quote was just as angered, and pointed the Polar Star at him. Balrog smirked, amused by the gesture.

"So, what's your deal?" He taunted, "You wanna fight me with that little pea shooter?"

Quote nodded.

"Understood!" Balrog shouted, then charged at Quote. Quote dashed back and began firing at him. Balrog tried charging at him again, but Quote just kept running back. Seeing this, he jumped up and tried to crush him, and Quote was barely able to dodge before he was pounded into the ground.

Balrog kept trying to pounce on him, but Quote was far too nimble, and soon his entire body ached deeply. He stepped back and pointed a stubby arm at Quote.

"_I'll remember this!_" He hissed, then jumped up and out of the shack.

Quote holstered his pistol. Serves him right. However, Toroko was still kidnapped. How was he going to break it to the Mimiga that another was kidnapped?

He sighed.

He guessed that he'd just have to keep moving on.


	3. Chapter 3: Kidnapping

Chapter 3: Kidnapping

He climbed up the tower and entered the Assembly Hall, where he overheard King muttering about there being two keys to Arthur's house, with the second one being in the graveyard. He didn't know how to tell him, so he didn't. Instead, he exited the hall and walked over to the graveyard entrance, which was blocked by a Mimiga doing finger guns.

"Huh, not often we get a visitor..." The mimiga muttered to himself, "I'm Jack, the number-two around here. This door leads to the Mimiga Graveyard, where the hero Arthur lies. You're probably wondering what I'm doing, right?"

Quote nodded.

"Well, mushrooms have been springing up in the graveyard, so I'm guarding the door to make sure they don't get out," Jack explained.

Quote brought out the locket and looked at it.

"Wait a minute... that was Toroko's! She hasn't been taken, has she?!" He shouted, and Quote nodded gravely. "Oh, no! I've got to tell King right away!" He yelled, then ran off into the Assembly Hall.

Quote sighed and entered the graveyard. Just as Jack said, there were mushrooms everywhere. He took out the Polar Star and began firing on any of them that got too close, and navigated through the graveyard until he made his way up to the largest gravestone. Judging by the looks of it, it was Arthur's grave.

There was an inscription on the headstone:

_Here lies the noble Arthur, true hero to the Mimigas._

Quote saw something shiny behind the headstone that didn't belong there. He looked closer, and saw a key. He picked it up and exited the graveyard.

He ran over to Arthur's house and tried opening the door. Sure enough, it was locked. He used the key he'd gained, and heard a click. He opened the door. There were some desks, a blackboard with something Quote couldn't understand scribbled on it, and a computer next to a device.

Somewhere, he recognized the device as a teleporter.

He sat down at the computer, and saw words lighting up the monitor.

'Kazuma: If I have to, though, I really will.'

He quickly searched through the computer's files and found a teleportation link labelled 'Egg Corridor'. He used it to link the teleporter to said Egg Corridor, turned on the teleporter, and stepped inside.

His vision was enveloped in sky-blue, and when he could see again, he was in a long corridor. Along the bottom, numbered chambers with eggs in them lined the ground. He began moving forward, but was stopped by a large animal with trunks.

He proceeded to begin running through the corridor shooting anything that got in his personal space, until he jumped over a stack of barrels and saw something.

A... different-looking Mimiga was standing in front of a hulking beast that looked unnervingly similar to a Mimiga, and the former was taking a fighting stance. Was this that Sue girl?

"There you are, you monster! I'm not afraid o' _you!_" She shouted. Yep, this was probably Sue.

The beast released a low growl.

"What's that? You wanna bring it?" Sue taunted, "Go ahead and try! Even my brother's never beaten me!"

The beast suddenly ran forward and smacked the girl before Quote could react. She released a small yelp and fell back.

"Okay, you win!" She shouted, but the beast didn't care, and smacked her again. "I'm sorry, geez!" She yelled, and Quote jumped down and cocked his gun to try and grab the beast's attention. It didn't work, and Sue was smacked backward.

She released a small groan and looked up, becoming confused seeing a pale-skinned man there.

"Huh? Who are you?" She asked contemptuously, and Quote saw a flash of white as the beast picked her up. The beast began walking away, and Quote bolted for him and was about to pull the trigger on the beast, who quickly turned around and punched him, causing him to fly back into a wall.

He wheezed and got up, clutching his chest. He didn't know how that didn't severely injure him. He looked back at the metal wall where he smashed into, and saw a dent there.

He made a note to himself never to barge ahead like that with something larger than him.

He got up and ran after the beast, but was made curious when he looked down and saw what seemed to be a house. Why would anyone live there of all places?

He jumped down to the door and entered. He climbed up to a higher level and saw what seemed to be an old man wearing green robes and a green hood waiting for him.

"Oho," The robed man muttered mysteriously, "A soldier from the surface? Didn't expect to see _you _here. Where are the others?"

Quote was extremely confused, and the man was able to tell.

"You don't remember?" He asked, then chuckled. "Well, until you shut down for good, have fun wandering. You may call me Cthulhu."

Irritated, Quote left the small house and continued his expedition through the Egg Corridor. He stopped when he saw a large building looming ahead of him that seemed to be some sort of research station, and entered it.

A sign above read 'Egg Observation Room', and the room was split into 3 levels with monitors on each level, and on the middle level, where the entrance was, there was a computer, and a bed with red petals scattered about it.

Quote walked over to the computer and found a note, which read: "With the shield up, I can't get to No. 00's room. I think one of these terminals should be able to lower the shield."

Quote then activated each monitor on all three levels, but nothing lowered the supposed shield. The only thing of interest was that eggs number 6 and 1 were abnormal, and needed to be examined.

He sighed, and looked around the room. Surely he hadn't missed one?...

He saw a chest tucked away in the corner, and ran over to it. He opened it, which revealed a sleek white missile launcher.

Again, he felt extremely familiar with the weapon, but he knew that missiles couldn't just appear out of thin air, so he'd have to use it sparingly. He exited the room, and trekked back through the corridor to the sixth egg.

The only way to get into the chamber was through the bottom, and he saw a large white spark zoom by down there every once and awhile. Judging by... well... everything, he knew touching that thing would be a fast track to obliteration.

He waited for the living spark to zoom by, then jumped down and up into the egg chamber. He saw a hole in the side of the egg, and climbed inside.

For some reason he couldn't comprehend, there was a chest inside. He opened said chest, which got him an ID Card.

He exited the chamber completely bewildered, and continued his trek until he reached Egg number 1. Seeing a red shield ahead, he jumped down and climbed inside the egg chamber and saw a hole in the side of that egg, too. He climbed inside the egg and saw a monitor inside. He shook his head and walked up to the monitor.

'INSERT IDENTIFICATION TO PROCEED'

He put in the ID Card, which opened the monitor.

He saw a command for the shield, and lowered it. He smirked and exited the egg chamber. He hopped up to where the shield was and stepped forward.

The beast was waiting for him, and it snarled at him.

"Master's very important test eggs... won't let _anyone _near them!" It growled, then charged at him.

Quote dashed out of the way and began shooting it with the Polar Star. However, it didn't seem to be doing much, as it only seemed to anger the beast, which turned to him and opened its mouth.

What was it trying to do?

Suddenly, a large amount of energy spheres erupted out of it and flew towards Quote. He was caught completely off guard and took an energy sphere to the face, knocking him back. The beast ran over to him and raised a fist, eager to pound him into the ground. He was barely able to roll out of the way.

He finally remembered that he had a more powerful weapon, and took out his new missile launcher. He hoisted it over his shoulder, got up, jumped out of the way of an attack, and unloaded every missile into the beast's face.

It howled out in pain, then began releasing smoke as it slowly shrinked down into a normal Mimiga. Once again, Quote was completely surprised.

He'd seen some red flowers earlier, and he'd assumed that the Mimiga feed off of flowers, but he saw no red flowers in the Mimiga Village.

Was this the reason why?

He saw a room ahead, and guessed that it was the chamber for Egg 00. He entered it, unsure of what to expect.

Now that he thought about it, he had absolutely no idea what to expect from anything anymore.


	4. Chapter 4: Sakamoto

Chapter 4: Sakamoto

The room was a large, empty chamber with a large egg off in the distance labelled No. 00, and just ahead of him lay an unconscious Sue and a computer.

He walked up to Sue and nudged her. She awoke with a groan, then quickly got up and took a fighting stance.

"Hey, I'm not dead yet! You're gonna get it this time!" She shouted to nobody, and Quote simply scratched his head. She turned to him in confusion. "Huh... I got creamed by that monster. Did you save me?"

Quote tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders, then slowly nodded. Sue seemed annoyed.

"I don't need your help! I could've handled that thing by myself... somehow!" She shouted, and Quote frowned. "I hate this stupid island, and I hate every living thing on it!" She pouted.

Quote shook his head and turned to the giant egg, and so did Sue. She seemed pleased to see it.

"Look! It's... I think it's egg number 00!" She exclaimed, "This egg could be our ticket off this island!"

She ran over to the computer and began fiddling with it, before muttering the egg's condition and whatnot. However, she was halted by a password.

"Hm? A password?" She grumbled, and Quote became confused.

How exactly does one password-protect an egg?!

"Seems we need a password to hatch this egg. Well, crud," Sue muttered, "If only my brother were here, he'd set things straight."

Quote assumed that her brother must be that Kazuma person.

"Well, looks like I'm done here for now," She stated annoyedly, then walked over to the door, but stopped and turned back to Quote. "You from around here? It doesn't look like it. The words on your cap there... that's not a language they have here on this island. Did you get lost?"

Quote just sighed and shook his head.

"That's okay, I'll let you come with me. We can get off this dump together," She said, "In return, you're gonna help me."

Quote nodded. Sounded like a deal to him. But, first, he wanted to confront that Doctor. Sue left the room, and Quote followed. However, when he came back out into the Egg Corridor, Sue was already way ahead.

So, he slowly navigated back to the teleporter.

Sue had already returned to Arthur's house, and was proceeding to connect with Kazuma on her computer.

Their computers linked, and they connected to voice chat.

"Kazuma, are you there? You ok?" She greeted.

"Sue?" A male voice responded, "Is it really you?"

"It's me, Sue Sakamoto. You got away too, then?" Sue asked, "Where are you right now? I found some dragon eggs. Is Mom with you?"

"The door's stuck and I can't get out. I'm still in this shelter-like place," The voice, Kazuma Sakamoto, answered, "The sector code is 'Grasstown', see if you can run a scan on it from there. Oh, and, Mom's not here, I think she may still be with the Doctor. Are any eggs immediately hatchable?"

"There's at least one, but it's locked up with a password," She stated, "Can you do anything about that?"

Kazuma sent the teleporter link to Sue, linking the teleporter to a teleporter at Grasstown Structure D.

"Anyway, I'm coming to help you, just wait right there," Sue ordered.

Kazuma shook his head. Yeah, as if he was planning on going somewhere. He sighed.

"Gotcha. Oh, and, can you bring some food while you're-" He asked, but Sue disconnected. He sighed again.

Sue looked at the teleporter impatiently, wondering when her new ally was going to arrive.

The door was opened suddenly, and Sue turned to see a very angry looking King standing there.

"You're back," He grumbled, "We've been waiting for you."

"What now?" Sue asked, irritated by the interruption, "I'm kinda busy right now."

"Toroko's been taken," King stated.

"_**What?!**_" Sue screamed, and Jack walked in.

"And, we're holding _you _responsible for it!" He shouted, and King approached her, then grabbed her roughly.

"Let me go!" She shouted, and squirmed vigorously.

"Oh no, you don't!" He hissed, and carried her up to the top of the village, where he put her in a cage.

Quote went through the teleporter, and saw Jack waiting for him. He walked up to the Mimiga.

"Welcome back. Sue's back, too. She's been put in the cage outside," Jack explained, and Quote frowned. "When the Doctor's minions come, we'll try to get Toroko back. By exchanging them, y'see."

That seemed pretty harsh for a girl like Sue.

"I know, it's not very nice, but Toroko is one of us. Sue, however, is not. This is what happens when you act alone," He muttered.

Quote looked up and saw Sue in a cage with King standing watch over her.

"Let me out right now!" Sue shouted, and King turned and stared into her soul.

"Shut it! _**YOU'RE **_the reason Toroko was kidnapped! So, we're going to try to exchange you for her! Maybe if you didn't act like a spoiled brat, this wouldn't have happened!" King yelled.

Quote was shocked. For such a small creature, he had one heck of a yelling voice.

"You creep!" Sue shrieked.

"If we don't get her back, I swear I'll tear you limb from limb!" King threatened.

Quote climbed up to the top of the village and approached them. King turned to him and frowned.

"This is the fate of all who disturb the order of the village," He stated.

Quote then turned to Sue, who frowned.

"Yep, I'm stuck here. The Doctor's minions took a Mimiga, thinking she was me. Her name was Toroko, and when no one in the village would have anything to do with me, she alone was warm and kind," Sue explained sadly.

She adopted a thoughtful look, then snapped her fingers.

"Oh, I know," She said, "Why don't you go save my brother in my place? He's in an area called Grasstown. Go find him and bring him here."

Quote nodded, and returned to Arthur's house, and set the teleporter for Grasstown. He hopped in, and everything went blue.

He readied himself for anything.


	5. Chapter 5: Playing With Fire

Chapter 5: Playing With Fire

He stepped down from the teleporter, and jumped up to a larger area. He could tell why this location was called Grasstown. Instead of being all metal like the Egg Corridor, this was a natural cave with a variety of flora growing along the rocky floor and ceiling.

He noticed a troubled Mimiga ahead and approached him.

"Hello, my name is Santa," He greeted.

Quote didn't know why, but something about that name made him want to smirk.

"I was off getting some water when I suddenly was attacked by monsters. I managed to get away and ran back home, but I lost my key somewhere in the process," Santa grumbled, "I'm locked out of my own house."

Quote turned to the large cavern waiting ahead and proceeded to walk through it. He was caught off guard when some of the critters hovered in the air, but still managed to shoot them. After a few seconds, he saw a key laying on the ground, and picked it up.

He returned to Santa and handed him the key.

"Oh! This is my house key!" He shouted, then ran over to a door behind him and put the key in the keyhole. The door opened, and Santa turned back to Quote. "Come in, I've got a reward for you," He said, and Quote entered the building.

He walked forward, but stopped to a halt before he walked into some spikes. He saw a sign next to them and read it.

'Watch out for these spikes! One touch means instant death!'

As he'd assumed. He hopped up to a second level, where Santa was waiting next to a fireplace. Just for fun, he decided to peer into the fireplace, and saw something on the other side of the flames. Santa cleared his throat.

"Thanks for that, you really saved me there," He muttered, "Here, you can have this."

Santa shoved a small orange, stubby gun into his hands. Quote examined the new firearm. It had a name engraved into the side.

Combustible Sphere Launcher (CSL)

He snorted. As if he'd call it that. He decided to just call it the Fireball. But he was getting sidetracked. He needed to find Kazuma.

"You looking for someone?" Santa asked, and Quote nodded. "I haven't seen anyone else around here. If you wanna go searching deeper in, you'll need to go through the fireplace in Chaco's house."

He nodded to the mimiga, then left the building. Deciding to give his new gun a test run, he pulled the trigger, causing it to release a bright blue fireball that bounced along the ground at a medium speed. The fireball collided with a smaller critter, killing it instantly.

His eyes widened, realizing just how powerful this thing really could be on a downward slope. But, for aerial targets and just normal combat, the Polar Star seemed superior for its greater speed and its shots being unaffected by gravity.

So, he held the Polar Star in one hand and the Fireball in the other and advanced through the grassy cavern. He walked over a metal contraption on the floor and stopped at a large wall and a door.

He went through the door into a house. He jumped up to the top, and saw a mimiga that happened to have purple fur. Odd.

The mimiga noticed him and smiled.

"Hello there!" They greeted happily in a feminine voice. The mimiga saw the two weapons in his hands and raised an eyebrow. "Goodness, those are some dangerous items you have there. Are you, by chance, a traveller?"

Quote thought to himself. He supposed he was, with all this exploration he'd been doing. He has no home, no family, none of that stuff, at least not that he could remember. He nodded.

"I knew it. I'm Chaco. I suppose you want to go through my fireplace?" She asked again, and Quote nodded again. "Well, you'll need the Jellyfish Juice for that. You can get it from those big jellyfish that appear outside every now and then."

He left the small abode and saw some blue jellyfish floating in the sky. He didn't question it and just shot them if they came too close. He backtracked through the cave, made more treacherous by the swarm of jellyfish accompanied by the bats and critters already in the cave, and looked up to see a very large jellyfish hanging from the ceiling.

He jumped onto a platform beneath said jellyfish and began shooting it. After a few seconds of being peppered with plasma shots and fireballs, it died, and a chest dropped from it. Quote assumed that the chest must've been inside the thing before it died.

He opened the chest, and inside was a jar filled to the brim with a blueish liquid. Remembering what he saw earlier, he returned to and entered Santa's house, then jumped up to the fireplace and splashed the liquid on the flames.

Sure enough, they instantly puffed into smoke. Quote reached into the flames, and pulled out a brick of charcoal.

He wasn't expecting said brick of charcoal to be agonizingly hot, however, and dropped it with a hiss.

Santa shook his head.

"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with fire?" He berated, and Quote just scratched his head.

He waited a minute, then picked the brick back up. It was still warm, but not painfully hot. He stored it away and went back outside. That big jellyfish had somehow magically reappeared, and he saw a chest inside of it.

He killed the jellyfish, got the juice, and navigated to Chaco's house. However, he was busy wondering what he could use charcoal for, and got hit by a critter.

He got up, shot his assailant, and entered the building.

He jumped up to the fireplace and dumped the Jellyfish Juice on the flames. He saw a hole on the other side, and crawled through. He fell down, and saw himself on the other side of that big cliff. He looked up, and saw that Chaco had already reignited the firepit.

The path ahead was much more treacherous, with many pitfalls into spikes. He carefully hopped over each gap and stopped when he saw some white... thing with red eyes blocking his path.

Wondering if it was some person, he waved at it, but it didn't notice him. Well, he wasn't going to let something get in the way. It seemed like a statue, now that he looked at it better. He shot the thing, and it twitched and released a red wave.

Quote was barely able to dash under the wave, and he continued to shoot the thing, until it exploded into a weird green thing. However, it was out of his way, so he continued further into Grasstown.

He jumped down, and saw a room behind him. There was a sign next to the door, which read 'Power Room'. He walked over to the door and tried opening it, but it was locked. He continued trekking through the cave, killing more white... things and bats along the way, and stopped at a large building.

He tried opening the door to said building, but it wouldn't budge at all.

"Hey! Over here!" A male voice shouted, and he looked over to see a small crack in the wall. He walked over to it, knelt down, and peered through the small opening. He saw a man on the other side.

"Hey, you look like a nice young man. Could you maybe help me out? I really need to get out of here," The man asked, and Quote nodded. "Thanks! Here, take this."

A small, rusty key was slid through the crevice and into Quote's hand.

"I found that on the floor. See if you can unlock the door with it," The man advised, and Quote did so, bringing the key over to the door. However, there was no keyhole, and upon closer inspection, the door was rusted shut.

He walked back over to the crack and looked back through it, shrugging his shoulders and frowning.

"Wait, it's not the key to this room? Well, that's just great. If there's no keyhole, we'll have to find a way to bust the door down... somehow..." The man grumbled, and Quote wondered to himself.

Maybe this was the key to that locked door?

He walked back to the locked door from earlier and slid the key in. Some fiddling later, and the door opened.

He saw a computer attached to a large machine, a robot packed down neatly on the ground, and some robots on the wall. The robots seemed to be dead. He walked over to the computer and turned it on.

'Fans: OFF

Malco Units: OFF

Turn power on? Y/N'

He pressed the Y button, and heard the machine sputter to life in front of him. He grinned, but heard beeping behind him.

He turned to see the robot on the ground had stood up and was staring at him with red eyes.

The robot began throwing its arms up and beeping, almost as if it were alarmed.

"INTRUDER ALERT! DESTROY IMMEDIATELY!" It shouted, and Quote readied his two favourite weapons.

The room shook and rumbled, as if something huge had crashed into it.

"_**OH, YEAH!**_"


	6. Chapter 6: Grasstown Scuffle

Chapter 6: Grasstown Scuffle

**A/N: Guess what? I'd been writing this for 1h30m when all of a sudden, power surge from nowhere. Computer completely rebooted, and I lost all 90 minutes of that work. So, if this chapter seems kind of rushed or whatever, that's because a) I'm extremely salty and b) I don't have time to make an actual fully though out chapter. Not my fault. At all.**

Balrog smashed into the room from the roof and crushed the defense robot, pounding it into the ground.

"Did you know that the Mimiga I found wasn't Sue?" He asked, and Quote nodded. "Yep! She wasn't! Because of that, the Doctor was extremely upset. He smacked Misery around pretty hard."

He grinned. "Pity, since she's just a girl. But we can't disobey our master, soo... that's our fate," He grumbled, "This time, I'm here to break you for real."

Quote grabbed his two favourite weapons and pointed them at Balrog, then smirked just to say: 'Go ahead and try'.

"Better prepare yourself!" Balrog threatened, then jumped in the air. Instead of crashing down instantly, he fluttered in the air and then landed. Quote rolled out of the way before he was crushed, and energy spheres jumped from the ground in every direction after Balrog landed.

Quote fired some fireballs and plasma shots into Balrog's side, and he jumped back into the air. Such a predictable move. Quote was nimble enough to dodge out of the way every time and get enough distance to not be affected by the spheres.

Balrog realized his tactic was not working and just began jumping around. This caused the room to be sprayed with energy spheres, and Quote was so busy trying to dodge them all that Balrog was able to kick him in the chest.

Quote was sent flying back into the wall and released a pained cry.

"Not so cocky now, eh?" Balrog taunted.

Quote got up and lost his patience. Time for him to get serious, too. He took out his missile launcher and shot Balrog square in the face.

Balrog was sent flying back and landed on the ground with a rumble.

He got up slowly. How was this pale guy still alive?!

"_**WHAT ARE YOU?!**_" He yelled, then left.

Quote clutched his chest. It really hurt. He just hoped it was a temporary feel and that he wasn't injured badly.

He saw the defense robot laying there on the ground. The robot was still alive, but its head was caved in from the impact.

He felt pity and decided to yank it from the ground.

He grabbed the robot and used all of his might, breaking it free from the concrete floor (literally).

"Th... thank you," It beeped, "You are a nice, very strong person. I'd like to repay you, but I only know how to make explosives."

Hearing this, Quote raised an eyebrow and pointed outside.

"Is someone stuck in a building?" The defense robot asked, and Quote nodded. "You really are a nice person. Have you tried unlocking the door?" It asked again, and Quote nodded again.

"Hmm. Here, I'll give you a material list for a stock M.A.L.C.O. Unit explosive, bring me them and I'll make you a wonderful bomb," It stated, then gave Quote a sheet of paper with three materials written on it.

Charcoal, jellyfish juice, and gum base, whatever gum base was.

Quote pocketed the list and exited the building. He backtracked through the cave, saw another big jellyfish, killed it swiftly, and took the jellyfish juice. He then returned to the bunker where the man was holed up, and knocked on the door.

Rusted shut, same as always.

"Hey, over here!" The man called from the crack in the wall, and Quote knelt down to it. "You find anything to bust the door down with yet?" He asked, and Quote just slid the ingredients list through the crack in the wall.

"What? A bomb?" He grumbled, "Actually, that could work. What's 'gum base'? Gimme a second..."

The man slid a small key along with the list through the crack in the wall.

"There, take that. It was on the wall, and it says 'Gum' on it. Surely there's a connection," He explained, "I'm depending on you, young man!"

Quote nodded and advanced further into the cave, until he jumped onto a platform, hopped over a spike pit, and landed in front of a fan. He saw Cthulhu ahead and approached him.

"Allow me to give you some advice," The strange man said, "If you jump up from a fan, it'll boost you even higher."

Quote nodded and did just so, jumping up to a higher level of the cave. Using this advice, he was able to jump a normally impossibly large gap twice to make it over to a door.

He tried to open the door, but it was locked. So, he took out the 'gum' key and tried unlocking the door with it, and it worked.

He walked into the 'gum' room. It was a large, thin room with fans on either end. It was empty save for a chest off to the side.

He opened the chest and grabbed a tab of odd multicoloured material, and guessed by both the look and the feel of it that it was the gum base.

A trilling noise pierced the room.

"Oh."

He turned around to see the witch Misery standing in front of him. He put a hand on his Polar Star, ready to take action.

"We meet again," She said malevolently, "Do you remember me?"

Quote nodded, a threatening look on his face.

"Yes, in the Mimiga Village. I hadn't noticed before, but..." She muttered, "Aren't you that soldier from the surface?"

Quote's expression turned from threatening to confused. What did she mean?

"I'm not sure how you were able to survive..." She said.

The room shook, and a certain rectangular nuisance jumped into the room.

"_**Misery! **_That's the _ENEMY! _He may even be stronger than YOU!" Balrog barked.

Misery turned to Balrog and stared cruelly at him.

"_**Is that so?**_" She hissed, then struck him with a bolt of lightning, causing him to shout out and start glowing.

Misery chuckled. "Well, it's a good thing this soldier is _your _job. Come back when he's in pieces," She ordered, then flew out of the room.

Suddenly, something awesome happened.

Balrog grew to far larger than his normal size, and his body twisted and contorted until he looked like... like a frog.

He... it... released a deep, loud croaking noise, and began hopping toward Quote.

Yeah, Quote was able to resist being stomped on by Balrog before, but now?

No way.

So, Quote began walking slowly backward, shooting at the beast. However, his shots just bounced off.

A fan lifted him up into the air, and he dove over the giant frog. It turned around and opened its mouth to croak again.

Deciding it was its weak spot, and that he'd need to make the most of this opportunity, he switched to his missile launcher, which had somehow reloaded itself, and fired a volley down its gullet.

A boom was heard, and the creature croaked out in pain. Frogs fell from the ceiling, which Quote shot with his Polar Star, and Quote decided to repeat the cycle.

He lured the creature back toward him, then used a fan to jump gracefully over it. It turned around and opened its mouth once again, and Quote released more missiled into it.

The frog released a long, deep croak, spat out blood, then fell to the floor.

It shrunk down and transformed until it was Balrog's normal form laying on the ground.

Balrog said nothing and just left.

Suddenly, Quote thought of something.

Balrog.

Frog.

Balfrog!

He snickered at his own joke, then left.

He'd rescue this guy, who he was pretty sure was Kazuma Sakamoto, then he'd have a nice, long nap.


	7. Chapter 7: Identity

Chapter 7: Identity

He hurried back to the Power Room and handed the three items to the Malco unit.

"Wonderful," It said, "Let us begin."

A few minutes later, and a small green bomb was put into Quote's hands.

"Go blast down that door," The unit said, and Quote nodded.

A short walk to the bunker and the device was plopped down.

Quote peered through the crack in the wall and did a thumbs up.

"So you've got the bomb set?" The man asked, and Quote nodded. "Good, I'll get out of the way."

Quote lit the fuse...

_**BANG!**_

Shortly after, the door was blasted off of its hinges and slammed into the wall on the other side. Quote stepped into the building and saw a man, not much taller than him, with tan skin, a white labcoat, and green hair grinning like mad.

"Woohoo!" The man exclaimed, "You did it! I'm free! I knew you could do it from the moment I first saw you."

Awkward silence.

"...Anyway, my name is Kazuma Sakamoto. Just call me Kazuma," He said, "I was lucky enough to escape from the Doctor, but my teleporter unfortunately sent me here. I thought I was going to starve... I owe my very life to you."

Quote just looked down at the floor and scratched his head. There was no need for that, he was just doing what was right and what Sue wanted.

"Oh, by the way, you wouldn't happen to know the Mimiga Village, would you?" Kazuma asked, and Quote nodded. "You do?! So, do you know my sister?"

Quote nodded again. Kazuma put two and two together.

"Ah, I see now. She sent you to find me in her place. Alrighty then, lead the way back to the village!" Kazuma shouted, and Quote nodded.

The sound of a teleporter activating filled the room, and an old man with red glasses stepped down from the teleporter. Kazuma and the old man looked at eachother. They seemed to know eachother well.

"Kazuma?!" The old man shouted.

"Professor Booster! You're safe!" Kazuma shrieked.

"More or less..." The old man, Professor Booster, grumbled. He walked up to Kazuma and proceeded to look around. He didn't seem to notice Quote, however.

"And how is Sue?" Booster asked, "Is she alright?"

"She's at the Mimiga village. This young man was just about to guide me there," Kazuma explained, motioning toward Quote.

Booster seemed to gasp at seeing Quote and ran up to him, causing them to be face-to-face. Quote was confused. Did he know this person before? Booster seemed to be scrutinizing Quote, a very pleased and hopeful look on his constantly frowning face.

"Oh, do you two know eachother?" Kazuma asked, and Booster turned away from Quote.

"No... no, we've never met. Nevermind, we must hurry to find Sue," The professor muttered, "The Doctor has begun gathering the Mimiga. It seems he has become aware of the red flowers."

"But, Sue..." Kazuma grumbled, "Will the flowers affect her? Just like the other Mimiga-"

"Kazuma," Booster said sternly, "The Doctor has begun gathering the Mimiga. You know what that means."

It finally clicked, and he adopted a look of horror.

"You... you mean... the war?" He stuttered, and Booster walked up to him.

Quote frowned. 'The war' sounded oddly familiar.

"_Precisely,_" The old man answered, "We have no choice now but to stop him."

"Stop him?! But... _how?!_" Kazuma shouted.

"I have an idea," Booster grumbled, "For now, let us hurry to wherever Sue is. We'll talk then."

Booster walked over to the door, and Quote shuffled out of the way. Booster stared stright at him.

"You too. Come along," He ordered, and the three left the building.

Kazuma smirked at Quote.

"So then, young man, can you lead us back?" He said. Booster elbowed him to get his attention.

"Kazuma," He called.

"Yes, sir?" Kazuma responded.

"Can you operate that?" Booster asked, motioning toward a hot pink motorbike.

"I believe I can," Kazuma answered confidently, and they climbed onto the motorbike.

He started the bike, and proceeded to try piloting it. However, he skidded over a small bump at possibly too high a speed and they careened off into the air and out of view.

"It won't stop!" Kazuma yelled.

A crash was heard.

Quote sighed.

He ran back as fast as he could to the entrance to Grasstown, but found an empty pink wreck there. Assuming his two new allies were fine, he walked back into the cave and killed another giant jellyfish, getting another jar of jellyfish juice, just in case.

He then walked back to the teleporter and stepped in.

Back at Mimiga Village, Sue had managed to talk to King and Jack about the peril they could all be in, and convinced them to let her out.

"So... we're... weapons?" King asked.

"That's right. The Doctor wants to use the Rose Wrath to make you attack the humans," Sue explained.

"Wh-why would he want to do that?" Jack stuttered. Sue shook her head gravely.

"That man is... he's like a demon," Sue grumbled.

"And he's gonna use those red flower whatchamacallit on Toroko?" Jack asked.

"As far as I know, he's still looking for them," She answered, "We can only hope he never finds them."

"If... if he finds those flowers..." Jack mumbled.

"She'd go wild... a weapon of death..." Sue stated.

"I'll never let that happen," King said, stomping his foot down.

Kazuma and Booster made it through the teleporter, finally.

Kazuma stepped down and waited for the professor to appear. The old man stepped down from the teleporter groaning.

"Are you alright?" Kazuma asked.

"My life flashed before my eyes," Booster grumbled.

The door opened, and the two turned to see Sue enter.

"Kazuma!" She shouted, "And Professor Booster!"

"Oh!" Booster muttered, then walked over to the girl. "You're alright, then?" He asked.

"Well, more or less," She answered.

King also entered the house.

"Who is that mimiga?" Booster asked.

"That's King, a friend of mine here. There used to be tons of mimigas here, but the Doctor's goons have kidnapped almost all of them," Sue explained sadly, "King has lost friends, too."

Quote appeared at the teleporter, and stepped down. He wasn't expecting such reception. It nearly looked like a party.

He slipped out of the house quietly and went to the Assembly Hall. He'd never been in there before. He entered the building, and saw a fireplace. Upon closer inspection, he could see something on the other side of the flames.

He put the fire out with the jellyfish juice he had, and waited a few minutes before rummaging through the ashes.

He pulled out what seemed to be a bubble gun.

Confused, he examined the 'weapon'. It looked like a standard bubble gun, except that it had a military name engraved on it.

Orbital Projectile Gun V.1

He pulled the trigger, and it shot out a bubble. Whoop de-fricking-doo.

He decided to keep it for fun, and returned to Arthur's house. He was finally noticed.

"Welcome back!" Sue greeted, "Looks like I owe you yet another one. With my brother's help, we should be able to get around the password for that egg."

She turned to Professor Booster. "Booster! Can we take him with us?" She asked.

Silence.

Kazuma turned and gave a solemn look to the old man. "Professor," was all he said.

"Sue, my dear..." Booster stated sadly, "We have to suspend our escape. The Doctor has located the Rose Wrath."

Sue, King, and Quote all gasped. Quote guessed that this Rose Wrath was that red flower thing, and he knew firsthand what it did.

"What?" Sue said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"While he has not yet acquired them, it is only a matter of time," Booster grumbled, "The location is the Sand Zone. The flowers are apparently to be found there."

King stepped forward. "The Sand Zone? You mean, we'll find the Doctor there?" He asked

"Well, it'd likely be one of his servants. If we don't destroy the flowers before they get their hands on them..." Booster muttered.

"Then let's stop wasting time," King grumbled.

"_However,_ the Sand Zone is extremely dangerous. Even if we made it _to _the flowers, there is no guarantee we would return alive," Booster said somberly.

"So, you're just giving up?" He hissed.

"Actually, there's one of us who's perfect for this job," Booster stated.

"Who?" King asked.

Booster walked up to Quote.

"You," He said.

Quote wasn't exactly surprised. Two of them were mimiga and the other two too old or weak to do anything laborous.

"Who _**is **_he, anyway?" Kazuma asked.

"In fact..." Booster stated, "He appears to be one of the two supersoldiers that were sent here over ten years ago. Where his partner is, there is no way of telling. It is amazing how he was able to survive all this time, but he seems to have amnesia. If he didn't, well..."

"Professor?" Kazuma butt in.

"Nevermind," Booster grumbled, "We can discuss his identity later. Go, now."

Quote nodded and stepped in the teleporter.

Talking could wait.


	8. Chapter 8: Duel

Chapter 8: Duel

When he emerged in the Sand Zone, he saw himself in a small cave with an opening ahead. He walked out into the opening, stepped into sand, and looked ahead. He drew his Polar Star to deal with any fauna, and stared at what he saw.

A young woman with blond hair, a pink tank top, red shorts, and a munitions belt was looking away, observing something.

What surprised him was that she had green antennae for ears, just like him, and bleach white skin, just like him.

She noticed him and turned to face him. She had sapphire blue eyes.

Quote was hit with an extreme sense of deja vu.

She ran off before he could do or say anything. He pulled out the bubble gun he got earlier and decided to see if it was worth keeping.

He pulled the trigger, and it began shooting bubbles. The bubbles were white, and began to orbit around him without popping. Even if he moved, they followed and orbited him.

He walked out into a larger, upward opening, looked up, pointed the gun at a large insect, and released the trigger.

All of the bubbles popped, releasing a surge of small white lightning bolts that slammed into the target and annihilated it.

Quote made a note to self to never judge a book by its cover.

He saw some small platforms leading higher up into the cave and began to jump up to the top, shooting any flying insects that flew too close.

He jumped up to a small hole in the wall and looked up at the ceiling. It seemed to be made of rubble, so he shot it with the Polar Star, and a section crumbled away. He jumped up and saw a door in a corner with a picture of a wine glass above it.

He walked over to the door and entered. The girl from earlier was standing in the middle of the room, and turned to him, grinning.

"Ooh! We have a _**VISITOR!**_" She said viciously, "I know what you want to do, but you'd better wake up! The Mimiga are _not _the enemy! They're completely harmless!"

He became extremely confused. She thought he was going to kill the Mimiga?

"Too bad for you, but..." She muttered.

She pulled out a shiny red machine gun and pointed it at Quote.

"I'm on the Mimiga side, and I'm _not _going to lose to you!" She hissed, then pulled the trigger, charging up the weapon.

Quote dashed out of the way before the weapon released a stupid amount of white shots, which hit the wall. He wasn't going to hurt her, not seriously, but he needed to defend himself.

He waited for her to charge up her machine gun again, but was tackled to the ground by four Mimiga.

He managed to get them off and quickly got up, before barely dodging more gunfire.

He waited for her to charge up her machine gun again, and dashed a certain direction. As he'd hoped, she led her shots so they'd be released where he was dashing to.

But, he managed to cancel his dash, although he did take a shot to the chest, but he ignored the pain and rushed forward, before smacking her in the face with the butt of the Polar Star.

She fell to the ground with a cry and tried to get up, but she was caught completely off guard.

He took the chance to put a foot down on her and point the barrel straight down at her face.

She tried to get him off, but he cocked the gun to show that he wouldn't take any more nonsense.

"Okay... you win," She said, "Are you going to dispose of the Mimiga, then?"

He lowered the pistol and shook his head in negation.

"Oh? Really?" She said, then got up.

He nodded again.

"Yeah, there's nothing bad about the Mimiga!" She said, "I'm Curly. Curly Brace."

That name also sounded extremely familiar. Maybe it was because he recognized that name was also the name of a certain punctuation mark.

"What's your name, mister?" She asked.

No answer. He wanted to tell her, but couldn't.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" She said.

No response. He didn't know why he wanted to speak so badly, but he kept his mouth shut.

"When I woke up, I was with these little ones. I don't have any memories before that," Curly explained, and Quote nodded slowly. "Amnesia, y'know," She said, and he nodded.

"I was... probably a Mimiga-killer, just like the other robots," She said sadly, peaking Quote's interest.

Other robots?

Wait, so did that mean they were actually robots?

But if they were robots, how were they sentient?

But, it would explain the pale skin, antennae, and his abnormal strength.

While Quote was thinking of this, Curly, meanwhile, was looking at his Polar Star.

"Oh, wow! That Polar Star of yours is pretty thrashed," She said happily, "Wanna trade it for my machine gun?"

For some reason, he had a feeling that wouldn't bode well for him. He knew he had affinity with pistols and missile launchers, but he knew for a fact that he was incompetent with machine guns, assault rifles, that kinda thing.

He shook his head no.

"Really? Well, if you ever change your mind, I'll be here," She stated.

Quote put a hand to his chest and cringed. Not only had he been basically punched by a giant brick, but he'd also been shot. Fortunately, the latter didn't seem to have actually penetrated, like a bullet would. It seemed Curly's machine gun shot energy, just like the Polar Star.

"You don't look too good. Maybe you should have a rest in the other room," Curly advised, and Quote nodded.

He needed to find the Rose Wrath, but he wouldn't be able to if he was injured, or if he was dead.

He slumped over to the door and entered. It was a small room with a dog sitting off to the side, and he saw a bed in the middle of the room.

He laid down in the bed, and the dog jumped on him, barked, and began to lick him. He just let it happen, and the dog soon calmed down. After that, they both fell asleep.

He woke up an indeterminate amount of time later to a loud crash.

He immediately got up, pulled out his Polar Star, and burst out into the living area.

"Shh! You could've woken up our guest!" Curly muttered, and Quote sighed. She turned to him and smiled timidly. "Sorry about that. But, you know, they're children."

He just nodded and walked back into the room. He knew he needed to find the red flowers or whatever the others had called them, but he couldn't do that if he was tired.

He went back to sleep.

He woke back up again when he heard a large sparking noise, and he ran out into the living room once again. He knew a Mimiga couldn't cause that.

Curly was lying on the ground, and she seemed to be stunned.

"Stupid girl, trying to protect them. The Doctor will have much better use for these little ones. Be grateful that I let you leave with your life," A familiar, feminine, arrogant voice hissed.

Quote looked up, and sure enough, Misery was there, and she had all four of the Mimiga children in bubbles.

He fired off a shot, but she disappeared. He growled angrily.

He then proceeded to kneel down to Curly and offered his hand. She looked up and took it, slowly getting to her feet.

She didn't know what to say.

Seeing the look on her face, Quote just patted her back and gave her a look of sympathy.

However, he thought of something.

Misery was here. That means he needed to find the flowers. Fast. He felt kind of bad, but he ran over to the door and opened it.

"Wait, where are you going?" Curly asked, and he just motioned out into the Sand Zone, itching to get out there. "Well, seeing as I have nothing left to lose... You may want a guide through here."

Quote nodded. Having help would be very nice.

He stepped forward, but heard a bark and felt something tugging at his leg. He looked down and the dog was there, trying to hold him back.

"Oh, yeah, we should probably take that little guy with us. I know his owner... at least, I know who she is," Curly muttered, and Quote picked up the dog.

The dog sat on his shoulder, and they walked out into the Sand Zone. Curly ran up ahead.

"I'll lead, you follow," She ordered, and he nodded.

Quote followed Curly through some rubble walls, but he stopped when he saw two large stones with angry suns engraved into each side. He could peer between them, and saw that if they could be moved, he'd be able to go deeper into the Sand Zone.

"Those are the Sun Stones. They only appeared recently, apparently there's a spell keeping them like that. I've looked to find the source, but I never had the time or the effort to do it," Curly explained, and Quote nodded slowly. That made sense to him. "Come on!" She shouted.

They stepped forward to a thicker wall of rubble, and shot it down. They saw a stupidly large rubble wall in front of them, and a large sphere covered with blades spinning around.

"Shoot those enough, and they'll explode into smaller ones. Be careful," Curly advised, and then tried shooting the wall. The wall was thick enough that the shot barely did anything.

She turned to Quote, scratching her head. "You wouldn't happen to have any... stronger weapons, would you?" She asked timidly, and he pulled out his missile launcher. She stepped back. "Okay, try shooting down that wall, please," She asked, and he stepped back.

She covered her ears, and a lone missile was shot out at the wall, blowing open a large hole in it.

"Woo!" Curly shouted.

They jumped through the wall, and Quote prepared to step down onto some sand, but was halted by Curly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," She said, "Sandcrocs will jump up and attack if you stand on the sand. It's extremely nasty to be bit by one. Shoot that wall ahead."

Quote took in the information and did as he was told, firing off another missile ahead.

Yet another wall lay ahead. Yet another missile was fired to puncture it.

What was ahead? Another wall.

"Surely there aren't many left," Curly grumbled, "The Sand Zone isn't that big."

Quote fired off another missile into the wall, and they emerged into a larger area. A smaller wall of rubble was ahead, which they shot down with their main weapons, and they walked forward into a corridor.

This time, they'd have no choice but to walk on the sand.

"Hope your dodging game is up," Curly warned.

They sprinted down across the corridor, and sure enough, crocodiles came out of the sand and tried to bite them. They didn't try to retaliate, they just kept running, until they jumped up and off of the sand.

Quote peered down at the sand with a bewildered look.

"Weird, huh?" Curly muttered.

They were able to clear away through a pile of rubble and emerged into a large, empty, sandy area.

"I see Balrog failed in his duty."

Misery appeared in front of Quote and glared at him.

"And now you're helping eachother. Wonderful," She hissed, "You seem to be quite a fighter, but you are proving to be nothing but a nuisance. It's time we settled this."

Quote pointed his Polar Star right at her face and Curly loaded her machine gun.

The room rumbled. Misery seemed relieved.

"Oh, there won't be a need for me to get involved. Farewell, you two simpletons," She grumbled, then left.

Their exit was sealed off with stones. Quote turned to Curly, who seemed very much afraid.

"It's... it's..." She whispered, "It's here."

Shivers ran down his spine.

He now had a really bad feeling.


	9. Chapter 9: Sandstorm

Chapter 9: Sandstorm

Quote suddenly got an urge to step away from the center of the room, and did so. What seemed to be a large metal antlion appeared in the center of the room and opened its maw, spewing bombs into the air.

"Omega!" Curly shouted, "That... _thing _has been powering the Sun Stones!"

They both began firing on the machine, but it sunk back into the sand soon after. Quote looked up to see a bomb about to collide with Curly.

Something came over him.

He tackled her to the ground, saving her from injury.

"Heh... thanks for that," She said timidly, then they both got up and waited for Omega to reappear.

The sand sifted away below them, and they ran out of the way before it emerged again, and they continued to fire on it. It went back down into the sand. The room rumbled again.

"Ohh, we made it mad!" Curly shouted.

Good.

The sand sifted away below Quote, this time much faster, and he dove out of the way before Omega literally jumped out of the sand, revealing its entire body.

"Now!"

They both unloaded everything they had into the robot as it began hopping around the room spewing bombs.

It hopped into the center of the room and sunk down into the sand.

"**ELIMINATE.**"

It opened its maw and created a vortex of sand, then began to repeatedly open and close its maw.

"We need to end this now!" Curly shouted.

Time to shine.

Quote backflipped above the machine, took out his missile launcher, aimed down, and pulled the trigger.

"Eliminate _this!_" He hissed.

The missiles plowed into the center of the robot, and it exploded in a huge fireball. Quote landed in the wreckage, somehow not getting hurt. He crawled out from the wreckage and stood up.

The sand returned to normal in the room, and the air seemed to get a bit lighter.

"The spell must be lifted," Curly said, "Dude, that was _amazing!_"

She offered him a high five, and he gladly took it.

"So, wanna go to the Sun Temple?" Curly asked, and Quote tilted his head in confusion. "Oh, right, I didn't tell you. Those Sun Stones were blocking the path to the Sun Temple. That's where the old witch Jenka lives, and where this old, locked warehouse is. No one knows what's in the warehouse."

That sounded promising to him. He nodded.

"Great! Let's get going!" Curly exclaimed happily, then ran off.

Quote shook his head.

How could this woman stay so cheerful and energetic after she just lost everything she knew? Everyone she loved?

He just shook his head again and followed her.

They managed to easily backtrack through the Sand Zone, but stopped at the Sun Stones. The eyes on the suns glew red, and the giant stones moved out of the way.

"I haven't been down here much, but there are possessed skulls and skeletons everywhere. If we're not careful, we're boned!" She joked.

He just stared at her, and she frowned.

"Oh, come on! Try laughing sometime!" She complained, then jumped down. He followed her down.

Thin layers of rubble impeded their progress down a tunnel, but they shot holes in them to fall through. They also found large, living animal skulls hopping around below them, which surprised Quote, but not Curly.

They shot any of them that attacked, which is to say, all of them.

They stopped when Curly walked over into a smaller cave. Quote followed her, and saw a door. She knocked on the door.

"Hello? Is Jenka home?" Curly asked.

"Yes, she is," An elderly woman's voice responded, "Come in."

The two entered the small abode, and saw a small elderly woman with a staff waiting for them with three puppies that looked exactly like the one on Quote's shoulder. Surprisingly, it hadn't made a peep during the whole Omega fiasco and stayed right on his shoulder.

"I've seen your face around here before," Jenka muttered, "How are those mimiga children you've been caring for?"

Curly's expression darkened.

"I tried to defend them..." She said sadly, "B-but, they were all taken."

"Was it a witch who took them? Blue hair? Pale skin?" Jenka asked, and they both nodded. "Bah, that damned daughter of mine... she brought her misery upon herself."

They were both surprised.

"Yes, Misery is my daughter. Where else do you think her magical skills come from?" She said, then turned around to face the two.

She narrowed her eyes at Quote.

"You. I haven't seen you around the Sand Zone before, and you two look so similar... Are you, perhaps, related?" She asked.

They both scratched their heads, and Quote shrugged his shoulders.

"I sense it within both of you. I sense your emptiness, your confusion, your loss, your lack of familiarity... you're amnesiacs," She said, "And, I see you've brought my puppy. Come to mama, Mick."

The dog barked and jumped down from Quote's shoulders, then ran over to the woman and began licking her.

"Young man, you are searching for something, no? What is it you seek?" Jenka asked. He looked around the abode, thinking about how to respond to the question. He saw a picture of a red flower he didn't recognize, and pointed at it.

"Red flowers? Hmm..." She grumbled.

"_**OH, YEAH!**_"

Quote was already pointing his Polar Star at the entrance when Balrog bashed through and landed in front of him. Jenka seemed unphazed, but Curly was definitely surprised to see a gigantic walking toaster standing there.

The dog began to bark.

"How's it going, Jenka?" Balrog asked.

"Ah, Balrog," Jenka greeted, "You're doing well, I see. How is my half-wit of a daughter faring?"

Both soldiers were confused. The two knew eachother? Quote kept his Polar Star aimed steadily on Balrog's face. Balrog seemed amused.

"Haha! Half-wit? You mean Misery?" He asked, "Oh, she's fine. _Juuust fine._ A new master has appeared, and this time the Earth will be ours!"

Quote jammed the pistol right in Balrog's face. Balrog seemed to become very irritated at this.

"Don't freaking blow a gasket, soldier boy. I'm not here to cause trouble," He hissed. Quote backed off, but kept a defensive stance.

Curly was confused by this. Even _he_ knew this thing? Clearly they didn't get along.

"So once again you two plan to..." Jenka grumbled.

"Hey, like I told this pale freak here, I'm not here to cause trouble. I just need the warehouse key. Y'know, the one where the Rose seeds are kept?" He stated.

Jenka seemed confused.

"What on earth are you talking about?" She exclaimed.

"Oho! Playing the fool, eh?" Balrog taunted, then frowned. "I see how it is. You've chosen to go against us," He grumbled, "**You'll regret it.**"

Balrog leapt out of the building, and Jenka shook her head.

"A new master... another ignorant, unsuspecting fool," She grumbled.

"The Doctor? I've heard of him," Curly said, "That... Misery said something about him before she left. He seems... rotten."

"If he got his hands on the Demon Crown, he probably is," Jenka muttered, "Do you two plan to resist him?"

They both nodded.

"Then take this," She said, then handed Quote a glass jar filled with a red liquid. "This will fully heal you, but it only works once," She explained.

"Thank you," Curly said.

"Oh, another thing," Jenka said, "About the 'red flowers'... You wish to get my warehouse key, don't you?"

Quote sighed and nodded. Jenka stared at him disapprovingly.

"Do you know what happens when a Mimiga ingests a Rose Wrath?" She asked, and he nodded. "If you do, please enlighten your friend here."

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Hmph. As I suspected. Their minds collapse and their bodies grow until they turn into feral beasts. Ten years ago, many countries from the surface world sent their robot armies here to find the Demon Crown and claim it for themselves. The robots were programmed to kill everything that got in their way, but, unfortunately, the Mimigas were caught in the crossfire. The robots mistook their peaceful lifestyles and unwillingness to cooperate as hostility and protectiveness of the crown, so they slaughtered them. The island was turned to shambles from the mess."

Why did this sound so familiar to them?

"The Mimigas, with no other choice, ingested the Rose Wrath flowers. Only then did they defend themselves. They tore through the robot armies with ease. One may say the Mimigas would've been completely wiped out if it weren't for the Rose Wrath. But, what happened to the enraged Mimiga? No one truly knows, but rumours say they descended to the surface," Jenka stated, "Now, tell me, if a rabid Mimiga was able to tear through a robot task force without any effort, what do you think they would do to the weak, fragile, helpless humans?"

Horror came to their faces, realizing the possible carnage.

"Exactly. Because of that alone, I cannot give the warehouse key. Opening the warehouse is an open invitation to restart that disaster," She grumbled.

"But, if that were true, then wouldn't it be better just to open the warehouse and burn all the flowers? That's what I'd do if I got the key," Curly reasoned. Jenka shook her head.

"You could be lying. I sincerely doubt it, but even so, what if not all of the flowers were completely destroyed? Then, they would just regrow, and then the warehouse would be open free," Jenka countered, "It is better just to leave them sealed away to rot. I may even melt this key with what little magic I have left."

Quote elbowed Curly and motioned to the door.

"I guess," She said, "We'll go get your dog now."

"Thank you," Jenka muttered, "Don't die, now."

The two left. Jenka chuckled to herself.

"Ah, those two... they've changed over their ten year slumber, but they're still the same soldiers they were ten years ago," She mumbled to herself.

"_**I'M BAAAACK!**_"


	10. Chapter 10: Wrath

Chapter 10: Wrath

Quote walked out into the tunnel and looked around. Up above him, he saw a strange looking wall with a paw symbol on it. He quickly jumped up to it and scrutinized it.

"What are you doing?" Curly asked.

Quote put his hand on the wall, only to fall forward and land on his face.

"Woah," Was all Curly said.

Quote got up and the two soldiers advanced into the secret alcove until they jumped down and saw a chest.

He opened the chest, and a puppy jumped out of it and landed on his shoulders.

"How does a dog get put into a chest? Surely someone didn't put this little guy in there," Curly exclaimed.

Quote just shrugged his shoulders, and they returned to Jenka's house.

Quote immediately pulled out the Polar Star upon what he saw.

Jenka was lying on the ground, and Balrog was standing in front of her in a victorious pose.

"The warehouse key? Why, _thank you!_" He taunted, and Quote shot him in the back.

"We'll be taking that!" Curly shouted. Balrog turned to them and frowned.

"I don't have time to _play _with you two cowards. I really must be going. Seeya!" He shouted, then jumped away.

Quote threw his Polar Star down in a fury, silently cursing. Fortunately, the gun wasn't damaged. He picked it back up.

He sighed, then let the dog down.

"The key... they stole the key..." Jenka grumbled, "Please, you two must stop them. They plan on enraging the Mimiga, then releasing them onto the surface world. You two are the only people strong enough to put and end to their plans."

They both nodded and bolted out the door.

"I know where the warehouse is. Follow me!" Curly yelled, and Quote did so.

They ran out into the tunnel and shot through more layers of rubble, then they dropped into a large sandy corridor with green birds and more skulls.

"I won't stop for you! Move it!" Curly hissed, and they began sprinting across the sandy corridor, shooting anything that dared to get in their way.

They made their way to the end of the corridor and jumped up to a different area with some walking skulls stomping to and fro, and with some tall, large pillars above some spikes ahead of them.

They didn't stop for a second, and kept bolting through the temple. They ran up slopes, shot skeletons, hopped onto pillars, shot down a group of birds, and jumped over to a large building with an opened metal door.

"Uh oh," Curly said, and Quote faintly saw a red-eyed Mimiga wielding a sword run into the building.

He bolted into the building. King wouldn't stand a chance against even Balrog, let alone Misery or this Doctor person. He hoped he'd finally get to meet his enemy.

Meanwhile, inside the warehouse, Misery was kneeling in front of a very tall human with glasses, a labcoat, and a grey crown with a blood-red, eye-like gem in the center of it on his head.

"Great Doctor," Misery said, "I have collected all the seeds as you requested."

"Well done," The Doctor muttered, "By the way, those flowers that bloom there... are they the Rose Wrath themselves?"

Misery turned to face the flowers, and nodded.

"Indeed," She responded.

"My, my, such an ominous-looking flower," He said contently.

"My lord, shall I consume one as a test?" Misery asked.

"No... that won't be necessary," He answered, "Hmm... I know. Instead, let us test the reaction on a Mimiga."

"Yes, my lord," Misery agreed, then a certain green sweater-wearing Mimiga fell into the room, releasing an 'oof' as she landed.

Toroko got up and looked around.

"Where... am I?" She asked, then panicked and ran towards the entrance when she saw Misery and the Doctor.

Balrog got in the way.

"Where do ya think _you're _going?!" He hissed.

"Balrog," Misery greeted, "Feed her a flower."

"You got it!" Balrog exclaimed, then picked up the Mimiga and lowered her face to a flower.

"No!" Toroko screamed.

"Eat the flower! _**DO IT!**_" Balrog boomed.

"**Get your hands off of her!**"

King burst into the room and stabbed Balrog in the back. Balrog yelped and left.

"Toroko! Are you alright?" He shouted, but he'd arrived too late. Toroko's eyes were blood-red.

"K-King?" She whispered, then clutched her head. "Oohh, my head..."

"_**NO!**_" King yelled, then heard cackling. He looked up and stared right at the Doctor.

"Oh, look, a gnat has flown in," The Doctor muttered to himself.

"_**YOU! **_You're that Doctor!" King screamed.

"Why, yes. I am the Doctor, and from now on, I am your new leader," The Doctor stated, "Pleased to make your acquaintance. Say... is there anything you plan to do with that sword?"

He chuckled evilly. King was seeing red.

"_**I'm gonna kill you!**_" King screeched, then charged forward. Misery flew out of the building and hit him with a lightning bolt, which sent him flying into the back wall.

"Without the Rose Wrath they are weak!" The Doctor taunted, and the two soldiers walked in.

"What... happened here?" Curly asked.

"Oho! You're those soldiers from the surface!" The Doctor exclaimed, extremely pleased. He flew into the air, and the door closed behind the two. Quote's attention was focused on Toroko laying on the ground.

"What did you do?!" Curly yelled. The Doctor ignored her question.

"You've come at a splendid time. Here, they're all yours! Now, there's no need to thank me. Have fun, you four," The Doctor stated, then disappeared.

Quote ran over to the Mimiga girl and knelt down to her.

"P-please," Toroko whispered, "Leave!"

Quote shook his head and put his hand on her forehead. She had an intense fever. Curly backed away.

"Umm, dude, we really should get outta here," She said nervously, then ran over to the door and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. She turned back to them, and had a terrible feeling. She ran over and tugged on Quote's arm. "_Get away!_" She screamed.

Quote batted her arm off and gave her a nasty look. Toroko had already gone through so much. He couldn't just abandon her now.

That was, until he felt something pick him up by the neck and chuck him at the wall.

He got up, and they both stared in horror as they saw Toroko's body grow to many times its normal size and razor-sharp claws protrude from her paws.

For the first time since he woke up, Quote screamed.

The enraged Mimiga jumped in the air, holding a block of stone, and threw it down at Quote, who barely managed to dive out of the way.

He pulled out his Polar Star and told himself to squeeze the trigger, but he froze.

How could he bring himself to attack someone as innocent and harmless as Toroko? Someone who's already suffered so much?

Curly sprinted over to him and tackled him, as the rabid Toroko had charged toward him.

"I... can't..." Quote whispered.

"It's either her or us! No, not even her! It's either _IT _or us! Her name is Toroko, right?" Curly hissed, and Quote nodded slowly. "Well, Toroko is dead! It's just this beast! I get why you're hesitant, but we can't save her. All we can do is put her out of her misery."

They got up, and Quote nodded gravely.

They waited for the rabid mimiga to jump again, and when it did, they dodged out of the way and began firing at it, Curly with her machine gun, and Quote with his Fireball and Polar Star.

It roared out in anger, then continued to jump around and throw blocks. Dodging it all was surprisingly easy for them.

However, Quote was still hesitant, enough so that it was able to catch him.

It picked him up by the back of his shirt and raised him up into the air. He tried to squirm free and shoot it to distract it, but he was completely pinned down.

It slammed him down into the ground with enough force that it made a large booming noise. He tried to crawl away, but it picked him back up again. Curly was just staring in shock, then snapped out of her surprise and shot it in the face.

It didn't care, and prepared to bite Quote's head off. He squirmed vigorously, and his missile launcher fell from its holster. Curly saw this and slid under the beast, picked it up, and unloaded every missile into its back.

It howled out in pain and dropped Quote, who crawled away.

The rabid Mimiga shrunk down until it was normal Toroko.

"I... I guess I'll get to see big brother again," She said weakly, then fell over. Quote crawled over to her and checked her vitals. Nothing. She was dead.

He lowered his head in grief. She didn't deserve to die. Absolutely not. She deserved to live, she deserved to live a happy life with her friends and her family.

And she was dead.

By their own hands.

He got up, closed Toroko's eyes, and limped over to King, who was somehow still alive.

King grunted. He wasn't going to be living much longer.

"It's too late for me. My last wish is for you make sure my blade goes through the heart of that monster," He stated, then collapsed. Quote checked his vitals as well, and nothing.

He shouldn't have rested. He should've done his job as soon as possible. He shook his head.

Two of his friends were dead.

And it was his fault.

He picked up King's blade, sheathed it, and slung the sheath over his back. He lowered his head and paid his respects to King and Toroko.

Curly saw how devastated her friend seemed and walked up to him.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and he looked at her, then just looked away and shook his head.

She sighed.

He was there for her when she lost her children, how could she help him?

She didn't know much about supportive words, but he was able to support her without words. What could she do?...

She thought of only one thing.

She hugged him.

This surprised him so much he nearly fell on his face.

He smiled sheepishly and patted her shoulder, and she let go.

"It's not your fault, okay? It's that Doctor jerk's fault. Okay?" She said, and he nodded with a smile.

They exited the building, and an out of place shadow loomed over them.

"_**OH, YEAH!**_"

They both looked up, and Balrog came down from the ceiling and landed on Curly, which caused her to scream in pain and lose consciousness.

Quote looked in shock at what he just saw.

Anger.

"Y-" He said, but was cut off when Balrog punched him in the head.

Everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11: Defeat

Chapter 11: Defeat

Balrog smiled timidly.

"Sorry! Hehe," He chuckled, and Misery appeared beside them and looked down at her two adversaries.

"So, you're both still alive. It leaves no doubt in my mind, you are the two tough little soldiers sent here 10 years ago," She muttered, "Because of that, I can clearly see that directly confronting you will only complicate things. Thus, to the Labyrinth with you."

With a muttering of a spell, the two pale soldiers disappeared. Balrog grinned.

"And you as well," She stated, confusing Balrog.

"Eh?" He mumbled, and he disappeared as well.

Misery laughed deeply.

"That was certainly refreshing," She said, then disappeared as well.

Quote woke up soon after smashing into something. His entire body was terribly sore.

Where even was he?

He opened his eyes, and stood up, finding himself in a very tall room with a rusty metal door and some blue robots standing or sitting around.

But, if the robots were blue, there's no way he could be a robot, nor Curly.

Curly.

Where was she?

Surely she wasn't...

He needed to find her ASAP.

He ran up to the door and tried opening it, but it didn't work at all. He pulled out his missile launcher and stepped back, but when he pressed the trigger, all that came out was a clicking noise.

Empty.

He proceeded to walk up to the robot to try and gather some info.

"I bet Misery tossed you down here," One robot beeped, and Quote nodded. "As I suspected. All of the robots down here were dumped here by that witch. Supposedly, she really hates robots, and soldiers in general. This is the island's trash heap. Nobody has escaped this place before."

Well, that was reassuring.

He walked over to another robot.

"The switch that opens that door is supposedly at the top of this room, but the footing's tricky up there. I fell over and over until I broke my legs. However, you seem talented. I bet you could make it easily," The robot stated, and Quote looked up.

That was... a long way up.

He saw various stone blocks and platforms that he could likely jump on to get to the top of the room, and proceed to climb the room.

There were some strange purple critters in the room that not only hovered in the air, but spit out purple projectiles. They just get weirder and weirder.

He decided to take out King's blade and see how well he could use it.

A critter jumped toward him and he threw the blade up in defense. The blade released a phantom blade that split the critter in two.

Seeing this, he proceeded to carefully examine the weapon. He hypothesized that it was imbued with King's soul.

That was actually kind of nice, but sad.

He then held the blade in one hand and his Polar Star in the other as he continued to climb the room.

When he got near the top, he saw some large stone blocks moving to and fro across the room. He used them to his advantage and made it to the top, nearly getting himself crushed a couple of times.

He turned on the monitor, and words lit up the screen.

Open door? Y/N.

He ran the command, and he faintly heard the door scrape open way beneath him.

He walked over to the edge and looked down.

Now, how was he gonna get down?

The stone crumbled beneath him and he freefell with a shout, tumbling to the bottom.

He regained his bearings and was able to control his fall, and he rolled when he landed, then put his hand to the ground to stop himself.

The robots seemed alarmed, but recognized him and lowered their guard.

"Well done," The one said.

"How did you not break a limb? That was a very high fall," The other said.

Quote just got up, scratched his head, shrugged his shoulders, and walked through the door.

On the ground, he saw the smashed remains of a robot. He examined it, and saw various markings and whatnot. This wasn't an accident.

He pulled out his two new favourite weapons and advanced with caution through the cave. He saw a very large beetle-like creature awaiting him.

It hissed and jumped at him, but he counterattacked and slashed it with the blade, which caused it to cry out and fall to the floor, dead.

So, he proceeded with upmost caution throughout the cave, then he jumped up to a large rectangular corridor.

He heard scraping behind him, and saw a large stone block moving toward him. He saw a hole in the ceiling and jumped into it, and the block passed beneath him harmlessly. He ran forward and dropped down to a lower level, and another stone block began moving toward him, again from right behind him.

He waited, jumped on top of it, then jumped up and toward a door, then went through it.

He emerged into a large corridor with small holes in the floor hiding critters. He was able to detect this and pulled out his Fireball, then blasted fireballs down into the holes so the crirtters couldn't ambush him.

He jumped up and saw three beetles guarding a building. He shot them all before they could attack him and went into the building.

Inside, there were more beetles, but they seemed friendly. There was one of them hiding in a corner.

"Ugh, I'm so hungry for Mimiga flesh," It grumbled.

The thought apalled him. It sniffed him.

"You smell a bit like Mimiga," It complained.

He walked up to another one of them.

"Long, long ago, there lived a witch on this island. She's the one who constructed this labyrinth in order to keep us Gaudi penned up," It explained.

So they had a name.

Another one walked up to him.

"Have you ever seen the outside of this island? This island is floating high in the skies," It said.

The thought of there only being some rock between him and a freefall down to the surface sent shivers down his spine. He really wasn't a big fan of heights.

But, it'd explain why the Sakamotos couldn't just build a boat and leave.

"As to how it manages to float, that secret lies within the exit to this maze," It finished.

He walked forward and saw a Gaudi at a till. It made him smile. Another Gaudi talked to him.

"You wanna get out of here?" It asked, and Quote obviously nodded. "There is an exit to this maze, but it's blocked by a huge boulder, and moving it would only be the beginning of your problems."

He walked up to the shopkeeper Gaudi.

"Hey there. This is the Labyrinth Shop, but sadly, we were burgled a while back. All we have left are some dumb missiles, and either way you'd need a launcher to fire them," The shopkeeper explained.

That peaked his interest. Missile launcher ammo? He raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, we haven't had a customer in awhile, and I doubt we'd need them, so you can take as many as you like. Better than another petty thief stealing them without permission," It said, and handed Quote a full refill of missiles.

He reloaded the weapon with a grin.

The shopkeeper noticed his Fireball and Polar Star.

"Hey, you've got some pretty spiffy guns there. A Polar Star and CSL, if I'm right," It said, and Quote nodded. "Can I take a quick look at them?" It asked.

He had a feeling that wouldn't go well for him. He shook his head.

"You're missing out!" The shopkeeper said, and he left.

He continued forward through the 'maze', and was met with more hostile Gaudi, some flying with purple wings. The flying ones also threw purple projectiles. He dodged all attacks and shot all of the hostile Gaudi.

He saw a door ahead, and entered it.

He dropped down to a lower level and saw what seemed to be a green doctor and a green nurse, as well as two beds. One of the beds was occupied. He took a double take at who was lying on the bed.

It was Curly Brace.

He ran up to her smiling, and she smiled weakly at him.

The smile on his face immediately disappeared.

She looked bad. _Really bad._

"Oh, hey," She said weakly, "You're looking good. Can't say the same for myself."

He frowned. What happened to her warrior spirit?

"When that Balrog stomped on me... it really did a number on me. But, then again, I suppose it was a better alternative to you getting injured this badly, as you're far more skilled than me," She said, "Just go on without me. The exit is in the Boulder Chamber. I'll just stay here until I get better or die."

No.

There was no way in hell he was going to abandon another one of his friends.

He walked over to the other bed and sat down.

"What are you doing?" Curly asked. He shook his head. She got the message. "Look, I'd love to go with you... but look at me. I'd only get in the way. You're strong. You can beat the Doctor. Don't let me get in your way."

He got up and looked straight at her, and shook his head again. He'd made up his mind.

He remembered he had the red potion that Jenka had given them. He checked his pockets, only to find that it had somehow fallen out of his pocket.

He sighed, and walked up to the nurse. Maybe he could help, somehow.

"Are you a friend of hers?" The nurse asked, and he nodded. "Well, if you care about her, I'd advise you do what the doctor tells you to do."

He walked over to the doctor.

"I'm a physician. Me and my nurse used to work in the old clinic, but it was taken over by a ghost. We had to leave the medicine behind. Please, take this key and go find the Cure-All, it'll heal your friend," The doctor muttered, then handed Quote a key.

He nodded and left the building, and hopped up some platforms to the top of the area, and saw a door with a + symbol engraved above it. Must be the clinic.

He used the key and opened the door, and saw the ruins of a clinic inside. There was a chest in the center of the room.

He opened it, and pulled out a small purple-white pill with the letters CA imprinted on the center.

With the Cure-All obtained, he walked over to the door, only to see it lock before his very eyes.

Right, ghosts.

He felt a presence behind him, and turned to see a black rectangle with blood-red eyes assemble before him. It looked oddly similar to Balrog.

Not wanting to get anywhere near the thing, he pulled out his Polar Star and Fireball, then began shooting at it from afar.

As the projectiles collided with it, it began splitting off black orbs that began to swirl around it. It jumped out of the building, and he dove out of the way before it could land on him. He continued to shoot it, and after a few more seconds it stepped back and opened its mouth, almost like it was in agony.

It dissolved into a geyser of black orbs, and the door unlocked behind him. He exited the building, dropped down to the medical camp, and entered.

He gave the pill and the key to the doctor, who nodded in appreciation.

"You found it, good. Many thanks," He thanked, "Just let me handle the rest. Your friend will be fine, feel free to continue forth into the Labyrinth."

Quote shook his head politely.

"You really must care deeply about her," The doctor said, "Well, it will likely be awhile before your friend recovers. You may use the other bed to rest, if you wish."

He looked over to his now asleep friend. If he stayed awake, that way she wouldn't be alone when she wakes up. But, he could and should get some rest for the upcoming escape attempt.

She wouldn't mind if he was asleep, would she?

Actually, she'd probably be happy he stayed with her.

He decided that he'd rest. He walked over to the vacant bed and crawled in, then drifted off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12: Escape Attempt

Chapter 12: Escape Attempt

Curly woke up, and found herself fully recovered. She saw someone in the other bed, and was surprised to see Quote there, sleeping peacefully.

"He didn't leave?" She muttered.

"Oh, you're awake," Her doctor said, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine..." She answered, "I can't believe he stayed here."

"If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have been able to get treatment. He braved going to our old clinic to find you medicine. He was very... adamant about not leaving you behind," He explained.

She looked at the sleeping Quote.

"I... I don't know how to respond to that," She said, "Well, if he waited for me, I'm going to wait for him."

Quote woke up a while later to talking. He sat up and looked around, and was relieved to see Curly up and talking with the medical staff.

He stood up and rubbed his eyes, and the three turned to him.

"Oh, hey!" Curly greeted. Quote nodded to greet her. "I wanted to wait for you to wake up before going into the Labyrinth, because... y'know... what you did for me, to thank you," She said nervously.

He smiled. He was just helping his friend. One for all, and all for one.

"Well, we should probably get moving, then," Curly advised, and Quote nodded.

They exited the camp, Curly following Quote.

They jumped up to a platform, then jumped into another area, and saw a spike ahead. They stepped onto a large stone and expected it to start moving upward, but they heard something begin moving above them.

They looked up and saw a large stone come down.

However, there was enough room in front of them that, if they were skilled enough, they could jump out from underneath it and land on top of it.

"We should do this one at a time," Curly suggested, and Quote nodded. Curly stepped back, and before the stone crushed him, Quote jumped out, kicked off of the wall, and landed on the stone.

He let it carry him up top, and he jumped off of the moving stone.

Curly seemed hesitant.

Quote peered over the edge of where he was standing, smiled, and gave her a thumbs up.

"I'm not sure if I can do that, but I guess I'll try," She muttered, then stood on the large stone beneath her.

She waited for the stone to come down and jumped to the wall, then kicked off of it, but caught her foot on the ledge and faceplanted on the top of the stone. She crawled forward to not get her foot crushed as the stone rose up.

She got up, jumped off, and landed next to Quote, and she didn't seem happy.

Quote was smirking, and she gave him a blank stare.

"Never mention this," She warned, and he nodded, still smirking.

They jumped down, and landed on another large stone, which began rising. They jumped off of it, kicked off of a wall, landed beneath the stone, and jumped through a small crevice, then stepped down into a large stone and metal corridor.

They both froze at what laid ahead of them.

A giant machine, somewhat X-shaped with its four 'limbs', was attached to the floor and ceiling by trank tracks and housed what seemed to be a central unit in the center with armour around it. Inside the armour, they could see a large green eye peering out.

The machine seemed to be off, so they continued through the corridor. Curly ran ahead and shot at some Gaudi, with Quote laying suppressing fire.

She jumped over to a door, and Quote was about to do so when a red laser shield appeared, separating them.

"Huh?" Curly said, then gasped. Quote tilted his head in confusion. Curly pointed behind Quote with a look of shock and alarm. "_Behind you!_" She screamed.

Quote turned around to see the large machine zooming toward him on its tank tracks.

"**You shall not leave this place alive," **It said.

Quote took out both his Bubbler and Polar Star and jumped on top of one of its tank tracks.

It stopped and opened its armour, revealing four green orbs.

Why, now, that seemed like a mighty obvious weak point.

He began firing on the orbs, which retaliated with purple blasts. He dashed out of the way of the incoming fire and kept firing, and managed to destroy one orb before the armour closed again.

It began moving back and forth, trying to shake him off so it could crush him, but Quote was nimble and stayed put.

Soon it stopped once again, and he already had a swarm of bubbles ready and waiting. He unloaded them all on an orb, destroying it instantly.

The... thing didn't seem to be reacting. Yes, he was destroying the orbs, but it didn't seem to be actually damaging the machine itself.

Another orb exploded, and the machine jolted.

"**Secondary chassis shielding disabled,**" An automated voice beeped.

"**Insignificant pest. You will not get away with this,**" The machine hissed.

The armour closed once again, and it began moving again, this time far more quickly, and Quote fell off.

He saw the threat careening straight for him and realized it was moving too fast to land on. He waited for it to come close and jumped over it with ease, and when it came back, it stopped and opened its armour once again.

Quote switched the Bubbler with the Blade and began attacking the center of the vehicle, throwing phantom blades and shooting plasma shots at it.

The whole machine rumbled. Now it was getting damaged.

Four cannons on top of the train tracks activated and began shooting out homing green spheres that began orbiting around it and slowly advanced toward Quote.

He wasn't gonna be able to dodge all that. He needed to end this fight as soon as possible.

So, he jumped and flipped on top of the machine and thrust the Blade down, letting his weight cut the center of the vehicle clean in two.

He fell to the floor, putting the now green-spattered blade down to the ground in an elegant pose, and the machine exploded seconds later.

He looked up and saw a startled cat fall down. Then, he peeked over to the shield and saw it deactivate.

He nonchalantly walked over to the shield and jumped through, then walked over to the door. Curly was waiting for him and began clapping.

He smirked.

"You have no idea how awesome that was to watch," She said.

He shrugged his shoulders, and Curly walked through the door. He followed her.

The small corridor ahead was split in two by a crevasse, and he saw an opened door ahead.

He heard a trilling noise.

"_Eyaah!_" A familiar elderly voice shouted, and he looked up to see Professor Booster fall down through the crevasse and land below.

Oh.

If Misery sent Booster here...

He needed to get back to the village. _**FAST.**_

He peered over the edge and saw Booster sit up and shake his head. He seemed uninjured, and he saw a teleporter down there. He'd be able to get that working.

Besides, Quote had bigger fish to fry.

He jumped over the crevasse and went through the door.

Judging by the large room he emerged in, and the large decorated boulder leaning against a wall, this was the Boulder Chamber. Curly was leaning against said boulder and grinned at him.

"This is the Boulder Chamber," She said, "If we can just move this big rock out of the way, we can get to the exit. However, rumor has it that a monster nest lays just ahead."

A monster nest that they'd destroy, should they move this boulder and the fauna prove hostile, which they likely will.

"Anyway, let's get this thing out of the way. You hold the opposite side," Curly ordered, and he nodded.

He doubted they were strong enough, but he was able to yank a robot straight out of a concrete floor, so...

He grabbed the other side.

"Okay! 3, 2, 1..." Curly shouted, then they both put every bit of strength they had into trying to move the boulder, but all they did was tire themselves out.

"Uh... it didn't move a bit," She grumbled, "Well, shoot, I don't think the two of us are strong enough."

Quote nodded solemnly. Seemed like they were gonna be stuck down there forever.

That is, until a certain somebody popped in for a visit.

"_**OH, YEAH!**_"

Balrog crashed in through the door and jumped beside Quote, causing him to bounce slightly into the air.

"You!" Curly said happily.

Balrog chuckled. "So, you _are_ alive! And, you're trying to escape the Labyrinth!" He stated, "Shouldn't you both be resting? I hit you guys pretty hard back in the Sand Zone."

"Oh, you think that hurt us? Pfft," Curly lied.

"Anyway, just remember that you can't disobey the Doctor any more than I can," Balrog grumbled, and Quote snorted.

Balrog's patience vanished.

"Okay, that's it, I'm ending this right here and now! Prepare to be crushed for real!" He yelled, but they weren't listening.

"This is perfect! You hold the middle!" Curly exclaimed, and Balrog actually grabbed the middle.

"Ready?"

Quote had a feeling this was a bad idea.

Balrog realized what was happening and waved his arms around angrily. This knocked Quote away and knocked Curly unconscious.

Seeing this, Quote became just as angry.

"_Are you even listening to me?!_" Balrog screeched.

He jumped into the air, releasing horizontally travelling orange missiles along his trajectory.

Quote was surprised by this, but dodged them all effortlessly. He unsheathed the Blade and took out the Fireball, and began shooting Balrog with them.

The combination of the two weapons was overwhelming, and Balrog lay defeated in seconds.

Balrog yelped in pain, then stumbled over to the boulder and leaned against it. Curly then woke up and also stumbled over to the boulder.

"Deafeated again," Balrog whispered, then turned to his two enemies. "Fine, I'll move the boulder for you, on one condition," He grumbled.

"What's that?" Curly asked.

"Don't tell _anyone _about this," Balrog warned, "Not a single soul. You keep your mouths shut."

"Okay!" She exclaimed, and the three grabbed the boulder, with Balrog in the middle.

"3, 2, 1,"

All 3 put all of their strength into moving the boulder, but Balrog did most of the work. The boulder began rumbling, then Balrog launched it into the air with a cry.

The boulder landed with such a large boom that the entire building vibrated.

"You got that?" Balrog yelled, "Me helping you... _**IT'S OUR LITTLE SECRET!**_"

"Your secret is safe with us," Curly promised, and Balrog jumped away, but Quote saw him drop a chest secretly before he did so.

He walked over to the chest and opened it, revealing a small, poorly written note and some parts.

"I know I'm your enemy, but I really hope you win. I hope this helps that happen."

Quote gave the note to Curly, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"You know, I think he may be one of the good guys," She muttered.

Quote then tinkered with the parts, and realized they were missile launcher parts.

With these parts and some time, he could upgrade his missile launcher to terrifying new levels of destruction.

He smiled and began work on the Missile Launcher, finishing in a few minutes.

He held up the new weapon, grinning from ear to ear.

The new missile launcher, which was such an upgrade he decided to call it the Super Missile, looked very similar to the stock missile launcher, except it was a sleek orange, and so were the missiles it shot.

"That nest doesn't stand a chance," Curly said excitedly, and Quote nodded. "Shall we?" She asked, and he nodded again.

Quote holstered the new weapon over his shoulder, and Curly loaded her machine gun.

It was time for an escape attempt.


	13. Chapter 13: Unstoppable

Chapter 13: Unstoppable

**A/N: **_**O-KAY! **_**Crystal Crisis has released today, and I'm planning on getting the game this weekend! So, this weekend and the little while after that, expect not much if any content from me! Also, final exams are rolling around the corner, so... uh... yeah. Don't expect much content this June.**

**Also, I may write a story for Crystal Crisis from the POV's of Quote and Curly.**

They jumped down and saw a hostile Gaudi waiting for them, and some eggs lining the floor. The Gaudi hissed and lunged at them, and Quote annihilated it with a missile.

Everything in the immediate vicinity of the Gaudi was completely and utterly obliterated.

The Super Missile also seemed to hold a _**LOT **_more missiles than its normal counterpart, so he could fire away willy-nilly if he wanted to.

He whistled at the possibilities his new weapon held, and Curly grinned.

"Nobody can stop us now!" She exclaimed, and Quote grinned.

They walked forward and saw what seemed to be a floating black fan with an eye blocking the path ahead. Its blades glowed red hot and it blew a spinning fire helix, which they dodged.

Another missile and it was scrap metal.

They walked forward into a bigger corridor and saw some Gaudi wearing what seemed to be armour taking a defensive position.

Yet another missile was fired, and the Gaudi were no more.

With his weapon tested fully, Quote put away his Super Missile and went back to wielding the Blade and Polar Star.

However, he hoped he'd be able to find a way to upgrade the Polar Star. It was becoming obsolete rather quickly, at least in terms of damage.

They charged ahead through the monster's nest, stopping when they saw strange nests on the roof and ground that began to release smaller things that flew toward them.

The combination of Curly's machine gun and Quote's two favourite weapons made short work of the nests.

It was in this cave that Quote learned that Curly had a military-grade Air Tank that completely shielded her from water. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't mildly jealous.

Regardless, they continued to fight their way through the cave and effortlessly wiped out anything that stood in their way.

They stopped at a monitor, and Quote turned it on.

One simple command later, and a trapdoor beneath them slid open.

They looked down, saw a rather short drop, and jumped down, landing with a puff of dust.

Quote saw a small hole leading into another cave and entered it. He saw a teleporter, and turned it on.

"I guess I should just wait here?" Curly asked, and Quote nodded. "Okay, if anything really bad happens I'll come through."

He frowned and went through. He just found himself back in the Labyrinth shop.

Seeing this, he frowned more and went back through. Curly's smile lessened at the expression on his face.

"It just goes to somewhere else in the Labyrinth, doesn't it?" She asked, and he nodded. "Well, let's keep moving, I guess."

They hopped out of the small cave and continued their advance into the monster nest.

Ahead, they saw large, floating, and swirling orbs surrounded by smaller swirling orbs awaiting them.

Whatever they were, they seemed hostile and were in the way, so they took a defensive stance and began shooting them.

Slowly but surely, they continued trekking through the cave, and went through a door at the end.

They found themselves in a small, dank, dark place with a stone lion's head in the wall. Quote walked over to it and peered through, but was stopped by rusted metal bars. They seemed ancient and undisturbed for centuries.

He heard running water on the other side. That must be the ticket out.

He took out his Super Missile and pulled the trigger, but heard a depressing clicking noise.

He facepalmed so hard that Curly giggled. How did he make _the same _stupid mistake he made earlier?!

Curly pointed over to another door.

"Maybe we'll find something in there," She said, and he nodded.

They went through the door and found themselves in a large metal bunker with a blast door blocking their way deeper into the bunker.

"Weird place, huh?" Curly stated, and Quote nodded. He scrutinized the blast door.

He recognized the multicoloured patterns of the metal as a very high strength alloy, but didn't remember the name.

"Pure titanite blast door," Curly said.

Titanite. That's what it was called. Titanium mixed with some other metals and alloys to be ludicrously strong, but was ludicrously expensive.

A pure blast door made from this stuff...

What were they trying to keep out?

Also, the walls, roof, and floor seemed to be made of titanite as well.

Quote had a bad feeling.

"I wonder if this was some sort of military base," Curly muttered, "See if you can find a way to open this door, I'll stay here."

He looked around and saw an opening above him, jumped onto a titanite block suspended in the air, and jumped into a small room. He saw a monitor against the wall, and turned it on.

"OPEN BLAST DOOR? Y/N"

The Y button was pressed, and he heard the scraping of metal against metal beneath him.

"PROCEDURE SUCCESFUL. ABNORMALITY DETECTED IN BLAST DOOR NO. 4. INSPECT IMMEDIATELY."

Four blast doors?!

Were they _all _titanite?!

He hopped down and saw Curly ahead, and checked each blast door.

Indeed, they were all titanite. Curly was looking up at blast door 4, which hadn't opened fully.

"What blocked a titanite blast door?" She asked.

Quote shot the blast door multiple times, and heard something... give out.

The blast door finished opening, and the two walked ahead, but were blocked by a stupidly large blast door. The fifth blast door was made of titanite, too.

"Just blast door after blast door. Sorry for my language, but all this security... _**What the hell is down here?!**_" She yelled.

Quote was legitimately startled by her outburst, enough so that he jumped a bit, then scratched his head. Curly noticed this.

"Hehe, sorry. See if you can find something to open this, too," She muttered, and Quote walked back to where they came in, and jumped back up to the monitor.

"LOWER LIFT? Y/N"

The Y button was pressed again, and he looked down to see a block of titanite lower, revealing another room.

He hopped down to the lower level, and saw that the lower area of the room was completely flooded.

He took a deep breath and hoped that his eyes were somehow waterproof.

He waded into the freezing water, was able to keep himself from gasping, and went completely down under.

He told his eyes to open, and sure enough, he could see underwater, and his eyes didn't feel like burning. He saw some robot parts on the ground ahead, then...

He spotted a hole in the roof ahead of him and jumped out of the water, and saw a monitor ahead.

He was shivering like mad, but jittered over to the monitor and turned it on.

"OPEN BLAST DOOR NO. 5? Y/N"

He was barely able to hit the Y button, and he heard a very loud metal-on-metal scraping noise above him, loud enough it sent the whole bunker rumbling slightly.

He braved the water again and returned to Curly, who had jumped onto a platform. He jumped next to her, and she turned to him.

He was not pleased. Not at all. She could tell, by the expression on his face, his shivering, and because he was drenched.

"Oh," She said, "If there was water, you could've just told me and I'd have gone down there myself."

He gave her an irritated look that just screamed 'Now you tell me!'

She smiled sheepishly, then looked around. The entire area beneath them was flooded covered in broken, dead robots and robot parts.

"Now I'm even more curious what this place is," She muttered, and Quote jumped ahead and looked up at possibly the most awesome thing he'd ever seen.

It looked like a giant rock shell embedded in the wall surrounded by four smaller rock shells, also embedded in the wall.

He walked forward to examine the thing, but his foot met air and he fell down to the ground with a splash.

He opened his eyes and found his footing, but saw something attached to the end of a broken robot arm. He picked it up and looked at it. It was a tow rope, one designed for robots.

With some clever knotting, he knew he'd be able to use the rope for other purposes.

He stashed it away and returned to Curly, who was occupied with staring at what seemed to be a powered-down robot.

"Look," She said, "This is a stock, factory-made soldier robot from the surface. It's heavily damaged. There's a ton more like it, too. What on earth could have done this? Surely not a Mimiga, right? Not even a Mimiga could do _this _much damage."

Suddenly, Quote formulated a thought, but decided he was being paranoid and pushed it down.

The robot's eyes suddenly lit up red, and it began trying to move, but failed.

"Look! It's still alive!" Curly shouted.

"_Rebooting,_" The robot said shakily, seemingly with a damaged voice modulator, "**TEAM 9 TERMINATED, MISSION INCOMPLETE. DESTRUCTION OF TARGET IMPOSSIBLE WITH CURRENT FIREPOWER!**"

Something shifted, and Quote's 'paranoid thought' suddenly became very possible.

All of this titanite...

It wasn't to keep something _out._

_It was to keep something __**IN.**_

"_**RETREAT! RETREAT! RETREAT! REEEEETREEEEEAT!**_" The robot screamed.

The area was cascaded in a dim, light blue light.

The soldiers' were already terrified, but Quote looked up, and his jaw dropped. Curly was still occupied with the robot, trying to distract herself from her fear.

Quote lightly bumped Curly on her shoulder.

"C-Curly," He whispered,

"W-what is it?" She said, and Quote pointed a shaky finger up ahead.

Curly looked at what he was pointing at, and her jaw dropped as well.

A deafening roar boomed through the room, and the blast door sealed shut behind them.

Their mental oppression reached their breaking points.

They both screamed at the top of their lungs.


	14. Chapter 14: Nightmare Made Real

Chapter 14: Nightmare Made Real

Quote had never been more terrified in his life.

The 'shell' embedded in the wall had opened nine eyes and had detached from the wall, same with its little ones, which had two eyes.

The robot soldier exploded, knocking Quote back, but a piece of it hit Curly in the head and knocked her unconscious.

Poor girl. She seemed to have the worst luck.

But, Quote had far bigger worries than his friend's misfortune. He pulled out the Super Missile, but remembered that it was empty. He cursed under his breath and switched to the Blade and the Polar Star, then jumped forward to face the beast face to face.

He threw a phantom blade at it's center, the one part that wasn't armoured, and it groaned and closed it with a piece of stone.

The little ones began shooting blue boomerang-like energy blades at him, but he was able to dodge and shot their eyes. When they hit, the little things squealed and hid their eyes.

When all four of them were stunned, the big one revealed its eyes again, and he threw everything he had on them. It began shooting out its eyes at him, but they reappeared instantly.

He was surprised and was hit by one, causing it to pop and shower him with acid. But, the room shook and the water level rose, washing away all of the acid quickly.

"What is that thing?" A familiar voice screamed, and Quote saw Curly get up and begin shooting at the center of the beast as well.

The water level fell as the beast hid its eyes.

"I have no idea!" He screamed.

He saw missiles laying on the ground, although he had no idea where they came from, so he grabbed them and reloaded his Super Missile.

He holstered the Super Missile over his shoulder with one hand and held the blade in the other. When the smaller creatures opened their eyes, he retaliated with phantom blades, and when they screeched and retreated, and the main beast opened its eyes, he countered that with a volley of missiles.

Curly felt rather useless in the battle. Her friend had much more firepower, and was way more skilled than her. Or so it seemed, from how easily he beat her back in the Sand Zone.

Regardless, when he grabbed too much attention, she decided to distract it.

"Over here, you ugly freak!" She hissed, and the beast's attention shifted immediately to her.

This surprised Quote.

What on earth was she doing?

He stopped for a minute to make sure she wasn't going to get hurt, then shifted his attention back to fighting the monstrosity.

Eventually, the beast roared extremely angrily.

"It is _not _happy!" Curly yelled.

The water level filled to the top, and a current emerged in the water that blew them all the way back to the blast door.

When the current disappeared, Quote focused immediately on getting to the top platform to get back to air as soon as possible. Also, he thought that if it was trying to get _away_ from them, then it must've been on its metaphorical last legs.

Something seemed off about this to Curly, and she looked over to the beast. Its nine eyes disappeared, but the shell stayed open, then began glowing white. It turned to Quote as the water fell again.

He had stood up and looked up to see a giant ball of white fire blast toward him.

He knew that fireball was going to burn him to ash before he could do anything.

He felt something collide into his side and fell off to the side, and the fireball zoomed over him. He got up and saw a very concerned Curly next to him. She'd tackled him out of the way.

He knew he didn't have time to thank her, so he just nodded, and they jumped back over to the beast.

The beast seemed to be furious that they were still alive, and released a shrill screech. It and all four of its little ones began glowing white, and columns of light shot out of all five of their openings that seemed to focus on a central point, pointed toward Curly.

They both knew what that meant, and Curly dove out of the way before all five beasts released lasers that focused into a stupidly large laser that zoomed past and slammed into the blast door, turning it white hot.

The laser slowly disappeared, and they knew the beast was tired. Quote readied his Super Missile and unloaded every missile he had left into it.

It released a howl of pain, smashed into the wall behind it, and completely stopped moving. Everything began to shake and rumble.

"We did it?!" Curly shouted uncertainly.

A trilling noise pierced the room, and they looked up to see a flabbergasted Misery appear in front of the beast, completely slack-jawed.

"What in the name of Ballos?! Wh-_**HOW?!**_" She screamed.

"_**YOU!**_" Curly yelled, "You're that _witch _that attacked me and sent us here! Are those children safe?!"

Misery turned to Curly with murder in her eyes.

"_**SHUT IT! **_Don't act like a mother! Do you even know what this goddamn thing is?!" She screeched.

"Huh?" Curly mumbled.

"Oh my-**this is why **_**I HATE SOLDIERS!**_" Misery snarled, "This is the core of the island! If it dies, the island falls! Is that your goal?! Your 'grand plan'?! To go down with the island in a blaze of glory?! _**YOU FOOLS!**_"

Another trilling noise was heard, and the Doctor appeared above the Core and looked down impatiently at Misery.

"_**MISERY! **_What are you _doing?! _Get the core to the lab _**NOW! **_There is still time!" He roared with a level of anger Quote and Curly thought impossible given his calm demeanour.

Misery fell to the ground, took a deep breath, then chanted a spell that teleported the Core away. She and the Doctor disappeared immediately after.

With the Core gone, there was nothing left to control the water level in the bunker. It rose to the roof.

But, they had no way out, and it didn't seem like it was going to return to normal, ever.

Quote sighed mentally.

So this is where his tale ends.

At least Curly will live. She can defeat the Doctor and tell his story, should she find a way out.

He held his breath for as long as he could, but it gave out.

He gasped, and took in water.

He sat there for a minute longer, and he began to lose consciousness.

His senses blurred, and the world became dark.


	15. Chapter 15: Ultimate Sacrifice

Chapter 15: Ultimate Sacrifice

**A/N: Chapter contains very high levels of fluff and that kind of thing. Reader be warned, if you don't like that kind of thing.**

In his slumber, he heard a strangely familiar voice.

"Did you know that the witch-woman Jenka once had a brother? His name was Ballos, and like his sister he possessed magical powers unlike any mortal."

...

He realized he was conscious. He took a breath, and realized that he could breathe again.

What?...

Shouldn't he be dead?!

He opened his eyes, and saw himself protected by a bubble. So, he must've gotten an Air Tank.

But from where?

Curly.

He opened his eyes and got up instantly and looked around for her.

What he saw horrified him more than any beast, demon, or Demon Crown-wearer ever could.

Curly was lying on the ground next to him.

He checked her pulse and was relieved to find her still alive.

She needed to get out of the water. Fast.

He looked around and saw the blast door open. He could leave.

Like hell he was going to leave her behind after all they've been through.

He pulled out the Tow Rope, and knelt down to Curly.

"You saved me... now I will save you."

He hoisted her over his shoulders and tied the rope tightly around their waists to free his arms, then knotted the rope tightly.

He walked through the large blast door, which closed behind him, and exited the bunker. He then looked over to the lion head, and upon seeing the bars had been broken off by the water, he went through it and landed in a waterway.

He knew that they had escaped the Labyrinth.

And she wasn't even able to see it.

He jumped up and out of the water.

He'd never liked water that much in the first place, but now he despised it.

He advanced through the cave ahead, shot some critters, and jumped back into the water. He walked through the water, shot anything that came too close, and continued walking through the area. Eventually, he saw a current and jumped in.

He used the force of the current to jump over spikes and move throughout the waterway, eventually landing in a large chamber full of jellyfish.

A few waves of bubbles later and the room was clear, and the used a current to bring him through an opening and out of the water.

He saw a door ahead and walked in. He hoped someone could help him.

He saw an empty house with a bed, a bookcase, and a computer.

He walked over to the computer and wondered if he'd get any information on how to give first aid to people who have drowned or nearly drowned.

He saw one message on the screen.

'Why don't you take a rest?'

The message had been sent seconds ago. It was as if the person on the other end knew they were there.

He looked over to the bed and laid Curly down gently in it.

Should he rest? He felt god-awful, mentally and physically.

Maybe some sleep would help, help them both.

Hopefully, if she woke up... no, when she woke up, she wouldn't mind.

He made room for him to slid into the bed next to her, did so, and fell asleep.

He had a terrible nightmare, when normally he had no dreams.

He and Curly were underwater, and they were fighting some large nautical beast, and he saw the beast injure her and knock her out. It prepared to bite her head off, and he tried swimming toward her, but a current appeared that pulled him away, and the more he struggled, the farther away he seemed to get.

He screamed as he could no longer see them, and woke up, finding himself screaming in real life.

He stood up and put his hands to his face, only to find it drenched with tears.

For the first time, he began to cry.

He curled into a ball on the floor and sobbed for a minute straight, until he calmed down and realized two things.

She wouldn't want him to be broken like this, and moping would get nothing done.

He walked back up to the computer, only to find a new message that had been sent only seconds ago once again.

'You know, I always kept my medical procedures in that red book on the bookshelf.'

He looked behind him to see a red book with a white plus on the center on the bookshelf. He grabbed it and looked through for the drowning section.

1\. For humans.

If a human being has suffocated and fallen unconscious due to water, get the water out of their lungs via chest compressions and/or the Heimlich maneuver, and do mouth-to-mouth to restore cardiovascular function.

2\. For robots.

Surface-built robots have limitations on their operations underwater. If they are submerged for too long a period, their system automatically shuts down to avoid short-circuiting. If a robot has been flooded, follow this procedure.

There should be a small button on the robot's right antenna, pressing this will automatically make the robot start spouting the water from its mouth, or if the mouth is blocked, a valve in its body. Once all of the water has been drained, the system should begin the reboot process.

He looked over to Curly.

They had antennae, but they looked and acted _nothing _like the other robots, apart from that commonality.

What is he supposed to do?

He walked over to Curly and probed her right antenna for a button. He found one near the top, and he pressed it.

Curly's body shifted, and he could see her begin to cough and retch.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

Regardless, to help the process, he turned her over on her side, and water spilled from her mouth.

She wasn't breathing, though.

Wait, if she needed to breathe, and so did he...

They _were_ human.

Well, cyborgs. That was the only logical explanation.

He shook the thought away and looked down to Curly.

He turned the medical book to the CPR page and read the instructions.

Five chest compressions, then mouth to mouth, repeat for two minutes.

He sighed and began to perform CPR on Curly for two minutes, then stood back.

...

She still wasn't breathing.

He flipped through the entire book to try and find anything else to do, but only found one thing.

'If the patient's cardiovascular function is not restored after performing CPR, there is nothing more that can be done for the patient.'

He told himself to stay calm.

She groaned and opened her eyes. He looked over to her, and his heart skipped a beat at seeing her awake.

She stood up and looked at him with a look of disbelief on her face.

"You're alive," She mumbled, "I'm so glad... I didn't think we were going to make it."

She looked down sadly.

"Once you fell unconscious... I couldn't think of any other way. I thought... I thought... if one of us could make it out alive, that it would be best for that person to be you," She said, "It looks like my Air Tank worked as I'd hoped. Thank the heavens."

She clutched her head, seemingly overcome with a wave of nausea. She opened her mouth, about to say something, but fell backward. Quote caught her in his arms before that could happen.

"Shhh," He whispered, "You rest now. We can talk later."

He gently lowered her back into the bed, and she smiled warmly at him. He returned the smile. She then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Quote walked over to the computer, and saw another message written on the screen, just sent.

'I pray for your victory.'

He sat down at the computer and typed a message back:

'Thank you.'

**A/N: Also, I know I uploaded not one, not two, but three chapters today. That's a lot of content. Well, these chapters are kinda short compared to other stories and I've been looking forward to this for so long that I didn't want to stop. It's not like this is something you can complain about.**


	16. Chapter 16: Lone Wolf

Chapter 16: Lone Wolf

He got up from the computer and looked at Curly thoughtfully. He didn't have time to sit and wait for her to wake up, but he couldn't abandon her.

To do so would make him feel like a worse villain than the Doctor.

He pulled out the Tow Rope, gently hoisted her over his shoulders, and tied them together with the rope. He then left the building and jumped down into the current below.

The current brought him through a large spike-filled cave until it ended, and he sank down into another submerged cave. With yet another current beneath him, he dove down into the current and let it take him over and under a lot of spikes until everything went dark.

When he could see again, he was in a very large artery, possibly the island's main artery judging by the many arteries branching off. He could also swim around.

Something told him to look behind him, and he saw the shadow of something speeding toward him.

Something was coming. Something big.

Also, this artery seemed familiar.

Could it be the same artery he saw in his nightmare?

He shook away the thought and readied his Polar Star and Blade. He didn't have time to worry about simple, silly nightmares.

A school of pufferfish swam ahead of him and he shot any that were in his way.

A large shark with an odd metal visor attached to it swam ahead of him and released some red projectiles from its eye in his direction. He swam out of the way and got near it, then began to stab and shoot at it.

It swam far ahead, and rumbling could be heard. Blocks of rubble were dislodged and were picked up by the current. The shark doubled back and sped toward Quote like a bullet, but he got out of the way and countered with a slash from the Blade.

It fell back, frozen. Quote assumed it was dead and continued his path, looking for a path he could and should choose to get out of the mess.

The beast wasn't dead.

It clamped onto him and began thrashing him about in the water. He screamed out in pain and readied his Super Missile. He hoped that it somehow had a missile or two in it, aimed, and fired.

Two missiles sped out of the barrel, took a helix pattern, and exploded in the beast's throat, tearing it apart. Squids swarmed through the artery.

Quote checked his leg and sighed with relief to not see any wounds, but there were far bigger consequences of the shark's sneak attack.

The Tow Rope was loosened.

Curly slipped out from the rope's grasp, and Quote noticed instantly.

His heart stopped.

No.

No no no no no no _**NO.**_

Not after all they've gone through.

He put every ounce of might he had to try to swim toward her, and got close. He reached out to grab her hand, but a current suddenly brought them apart.

He tried furiously to swim toward her, but the currents were just too strong.

"_**NOOOOOO!**_" He screamed.

A piece of rubble smashed into the side of his face, and he blacked out.

Some time later, he woke up at the Mimiga Village reservoir. He looked around, even looked in the water, but found no one there.

"C-Curly?" He whispered.

Nothing.

She was gone.

Gone forever.

No. Surely not. Maybe she got out. Maybe she was spat out at another reservoir soon after he was knocked out and is still alive.

Maybe. Just maybe.

He'd have to keep moving and find out.

He got up and exited the reservoir, then frowned at the state of the village. It looked abandoned. Deserted.

The Doctor must have taken what Mimiga was left.

Even Sue.

As if his situation wasn't bad enough. All he could hope now was that he could a) find Curly alive, or b) find the Doctor's lair and free his friends.

He fell down to Arthur's house and entered. He then stepped forward, then saw the teleporter buzz to life.

He peered at who stepped down, and felt a twinge of relief. Professor Booster was now standing there.

"Only you, I see," The old man grumbled.

Quote's somber expression only darkened, and he nodded gravely.

"You look like you've lost everything," Booster muttered, and tears gathered in Quote's eyes. He wiped them away and nodded slowly. He wouldn't cry. Not here. Curly would want him to be strong.

The Doctor has acquired the Rose Wrath, and all of the island's Mimiga have fallen into his grasp. So, the tragedy has become inevitable," The professor explained, "I should've at least allowed Sue to escape when I had the chance."

Quote raised his head.

"We all should've done things when we had the chance," He whispered, "All we must do is keep moving forward. That is the only way we can ever succeed."

Booster fell silent. He hadn't expected the soldier to be so... wise. Not to mention, he was completely silent before.

Something truly awful must've happened to him.

Booster stepped forward and put a machine in Quote's hands. Quote looked at him with confusion.

"This is my greatest creation, the Booster v2.0, named after myself," Booster stated, "Please, heed my last call. If you see Sue again, I want you to take her and flee this island. That girl is Sakamoto's daughter through and through, and she never wanted to come here. But, we couldn't have left her on her own, so she was forced to come with us."

Quote examined the sleek green jetpack with a very grave expression.

"I beg of you. Take that girl and flee," Booster begged.

Quote looked at the professor with a steely look of determination and nodded. He had nothing left to do on this island anymore. Not now... after he lost everything.

He pulled out his first weapon. The Polar Star. He'd stolen it from a hermit. Before he goes off on his last adventure, he should probably give it back and apologize. He strapped on the jetpack, and heard a clicking noise. An automated voice came from it.

"Neural synchronization complete."

He exited the building and looked far up. He could see where he had originally fallen from, on the start of this adventure he once thought he'd treasure forever.

He jumped up and told the jetpack to activate. It did, and it shot him up onto the top of the village. He jumped again, and with a long jetpack burst, he landed next to the door to the first cave.

However, it was still foreign to him, so the landing wasn't soft. He walked through into the dank cave and strolled down to the hermit's house. He walked through the stone lion head and saw a very angry old man awaiting him.

"You haven't seen the gun I made, have you?" The hermit asked, "Some twit went and stole it while I was sleeping. To be fair, it's my fault. I should've kept the chest locked or kept the gun in my pocket."

Quote scratched his head nervously. The hermit saw something blue in a holster and saw a blue gun with a very familiar star mark.

"_**HEY!**_" He yelled, and Quote took a step back. "Isn't _**that **_my gun?! What are _you _doing with it?! I didn't make it for you! Hand it over!"

Quote took the gun out of its holster and gave it to the hermit, who snatched it furiously.

The hermit began to inspect the gun, and became even more angry at seeing all the scratches, dents, and dings on it.

"Pah! I see you've certainly done a number on it! It looks decades old now, all thanks to you!" He hissed, then stared at the gun. "You know," He said calmly, "I've long believed that one's weapons should be crafted by oneself. That one who fights with another's weapon and considers that force his own is witless. That one who blames his tools for what he cannot accomplish is a fool."

Quote looked down. All this and now he's being berated like a child. He did steal it, though, so he couldn't say he was surprised. The hermit held the gun up to his face, examining it with pure admiration.

"However, when I see this gun in my hands that you have used so thoroughly and exhaustively, it truly inspires me," He said.

That certainly surprised Quote.

"To use such an... incomplete gun as the Polar Star to such an extent... to think that was even possible..." The hermit rambled, then chuckled in awe. "I must apologize for my rambling. I will return the weapon to you."

Really?

"When I complete it, of course!"

The hermit assembled some parts and began to tinker with the Polar Star, but did it in a way that kept it hidden from Quote's view. Some time later, a sleek, silver pistol was shoved into his hands. It had a different title inscribed on it.

S.P.U.R.

"The Superpowered Ultra Repeater, or S.P.U.R., is the final form of the Polar Star. It is a devastating weapon that needs no ammo, just like the Polar Star, but no energy either. It makes its own. Hold down the trigger to charge up a ray, or fire it multiple times to shoot turbocharged Polar Star shots," The hermit stated.

Quote stared at the hermit, clearly surprised, and with a skeptical expression.

"I am at peace knowing my handiwork will be used to its full potential with a marksman as skilled as you are," The hermit said, "Just be sure not to break it or anything. This is a one-time deal."

Quote nodded, bowed to thank the hermit, and left.

There were far more fauna in the cave now.

Quote took aim, held down the trigger, saw light gather at the end of the gun, and heard a charging noise. A low beep played, then soon after, a higher pitched beep, then a very loud bleeping noise.

He released the trigger.

A massive column of plasma left the barrel and zoomed toward the swarm of enemies, cooking a good 10 critters.

He smirked and advanced through the cave, annihilating every single enemy.

He left the cave, jumped down, used the booster to break his fall, returned into Arthur's house, and walked up to the computer. Words lit up the screen.

"Go to the Egg Corridor."

He set the teleporter for the Egg Corridor and stepped in. The world went blue, and Quote braced himself for anything.

Whatever he'd face here,

He'd be facing it alone.

A lone wolf, yet again.


	17. Chapter 17: Fury

Chapter 17: Fury

When he stepped down from the teleporter, he gasped.

This place was no longer the Egg Corridor.

It was now the broken remains of a corridor.

He charged up the Spur and advanced forward cautiously. The bloodied carcasses of baby Sky Dragons littered what used to be the egg incubators. This time, he didn't face much resistance, as it seemed what used to live in this place must've been obliterated by whatever decimated this place.

And whatever hostile creatures he did find were instantly killed by the Spur's beams. He entered Cthulhu's abode, which was ruined as well. He saw rubble above him and shot it. Some metal thing came down rapidly from the rubble, and he was barely able to move out of the way.

The concrete floor turned to powder beneath the metal rectangle. Quote saw that it had an eye. It looked ominously similar to the Demon Crown. He shot it and jumped up, seeing another door, and went through it.

He advanced through the cave. Stalactites fell from the ceiling, and half-dead Sky Dragons breathed fire at him. Regrettably, he shot them and continued his advance. He saw a yellow cloud with... eyes in front of him, and shot it.

It released a ticking sound and began to glow. He'd just activated a bomb. He continued to shoot the thing, not wanting any more carnage.

It disappeared harmlessly after another shot, and he continued trudging through the broken corridor. The path ahead had caved in around the Egg Observation Room, but he saw that some bars had busted. He crawled through and jumped down to a chest, then opened it.

A full refill of missiles. That relieved him... slightly.

He heard something break, and felt a cold breeze come through. He reloaded and readied his Super Missile, and saw two identical Sky Dragons begin to circle around him.

He didn't have time for this.

He waited for them to open their mouths and shot missiles into them, and they became stunned and crashed together. They then exploded, and he scanned the room for an exit. He saw a hole in the wall and crawled through, emerging on the other side of the cave in.

He continued fighting his way through the devastation until he finally made it to Egg No. 00's chamber. He didn't know what to expect inside.

He entered the chamber and immediately saw the broken egg in the center of the room. He walked over to the computer and read what was on it.

'HATCH SUCCESSFUL.'

Could it be?...

"_Who's there?!_" A familiar, adult male voice shouted. Quote turned to see Kazuma Sakamoto emerge from the shadows. "Oh, it's you. Glad to see you're alright. I'm the only person here, other than you. After you left for the Sand Zone, we hurried to secure a means of escape. That's when Misery showed up. She took everyone who was left and sent Booster to God knows where for resisting. I was able to sneak away."

Quote frowned.

"I guess the Doctor managed to get the seeds," Kazuma grumbled, and Quote frowned further. "Don't worry, I don't blame you. Really, his victory was assured once he got his hands on that blasted crown. It's only a matter of time before his army of rabid Mimigas is completed, and then... not even you could stop him."

Quote's frown deepened even more.

"We've no choice but to flee. I figured we'd be able to escape if only we had a Sky Dragon. That's why I came here, and now my dragon has hatched," Kazuma explained, then smiled sadly. "Would you like to escape with me?"

After all Quote had been put through in his adventure...

He finally snapped, and entered an unmatchable fury.

"_**WHAT?!**_" He screamed, "You're just going to... _leave?! _Like a _coward?!_ What about your sister? Your mother?!"

Kazuma was shocked. "I-I have no choice. It's either that or die, and I value my life," He stammered. Quote balled his fists. "I'm giving you a chance to live," Kazuma stated.

"'Live'," Quote mocked, "'Live'. Live for what?"

Kazuma fell silent.

"I've lost everything I've ever known now. I found someone, and I'd bet my life that she was my old partner from ten years ago. We tried to stop the Doctor, and Misery sent us to the Labyrinth. In there, my partner saved my life. I couldn't return the favour. And now, I learn that all of my friends are captured or dead, except for you and Booster," Quote explained desolately.

"Exactly. There's nothing else left for you to do. Let's leave," Kazuma advised. Quote turned to him and stepped forth so that they were face to face.

"No. _No. NO! __**NO!**_" He yelled, "I have _**NOTHING **_left to live for! Don't you see?! How could I live with myself after all of this, knowing I'm nothing but a _coward?! _You can take the deserter, the traitor, the coward's way out if you want! _**I don't give a damn! **_But me? No. Never. I'm a soldier, and a proper soldier never abandons his squadron. I'm going to confront the Doctor. I'm going to _kill_ the Doctor. I will do this, even if it's the very last thing that I do."

Silence.

Kazuma sighed.

"Fine, then. I'll stick around for awhile, but you must realize that if the situation grows dire, I will leave without you," He warned.

Quote nodded.

"It's all the same to me," He said.

"Follow me," Kazuma ordered, and then walked over to an opening. He walked through the opening, and Quote followed. He gasped at the sight.

They were now on the outer wall of the island, and he had a clear view of the full moon in the starry sky, and of the perfect clouds beneath him. He smiled at the beauty of the sight. One thought ran through his mind.

If only Curly were here to see this.

But he couldn't dwell on her disappearance now.

He walked up to Kazuma, who was sitting next to a green, healthy Sky Dragon.

"There is one way to bring the Mimiga back to their normal state. If you destroyed the core, the wave of magic released by its defeat would cancel out the effects of the Rose Wrath. However, it wouldn't kill the flowers, and the island would fall. A dangerous approach," Kazuma explained, "If you plan to look for the core, you'd best scale this wall, and scale it carefully. A fall from this height would kill anyone, even you. When you reach the top, you should find the entrance to the Doctor's plantation. I'd suggest looking there."

Quote nodded and looked up.

The Outer Wall was definitely not short or small, and he was at the very bottom.

With his recently acquired Booster, he began to fly up the wall.

Not too long after, he was greeted by very odd sights.

Strange orange tiny creatures were hopping on the wall, but gravity didn't seem to be working right, as they were falling sideways, not down.

There were also these strange ghosts that began shooting orbs that fell to the wall, but he shot everything. He wasn't gonna let some strange creatures get in his way. He continued to scale the wall, even though Sandcrocs were oddly placed there, and eventually jumped up into the roof.

He looked down to the wall beneath him.

Wasn't so bad of a climb after all.

He walked over to a door and entered it.

He emerged into a small decrepit warehouse, and a creature that looked half-dog and half-mimiga in front of him wearing a white coat.

It yelped and ran away. Quote walked over to it and smiled to show he meant no harm.

"Don't kill me!" It shouted in a male, human voice, "I'm human! I was just turned into this! I'm human!"

Quote stepped back.

"What's this? You're not one of those killer robots? You look kind of like one of them, with your antennae," It-he said, "Either way, you scared the hell out of me, jumping out like that! You wouldn't happen to be that... saviour, would you? One of those two supersoldiers sent here ten years ago?"

Quote scratched his head. Saviour?

He just sighed and nodded.

"Oh, wonderful, truly wonderful! Now we actually stand a chance! Where's your partner, then?" The mimiga-thing said.

Quote stared at him.

"Oh... you're... alone," The thing said, "I'm Itoh, one of the humans who came here to do research. That witch Misery turned me into this... thing. I managed to get away, but... just look at me."

Quote frowned.

"And now I'm stuck here!" Itoh complained, "You climbed up from the Outer Wall, didn't you? I'm an engineer of considerable talent, but I'm deathly afraid of heights. I just couldn't do it. Ugh, I never should've come to this hellhole in the first place."

Quote turned back to where he came in from and saw another door. He walked through the door and emerged into the Plantation.

A bridge was ahead, and he walked over it, but saw holes in the bridge and minded the gaps. He heard hissing above him and saw a swarm of bats confront him, with a very large bat in the center. A few Spur beams and the swarm was no more.

He walked ahead and saw plots of land tended to by Mimigas, and the blood red flowers he needed to destroy growing under their care. The Mimiga were watched over by strange orange golems wearing green clothing. Even worse, the Mimiga seemed to be happy. Not as if they were being enslaved.

Sickening.

Fooling the Mimiga into growing their doom. Absolutely apalling.

He tried talking to some Mimiga, but they ignored him. He walked ahead and entered into what seemed to be a break or rest area. He saw the angler Mimiga from the village waiting there.

"Oh, hello, haven't we met before?" The angler greeted, and Quote nodded. "Yeah, back at the village. Some weird lady called Misery kidnapped me and took me here, but I hate farming. I was just about to go out and do some fishing. I know a good spot, and the Drolls are so dumb that slipping by them is cake."

Those must've been the earth golem things he saw supervising the farmers.

The angler left, and Quote decided to follow. He followed the angler back through the plantation and down through the semi-broken bridge down to a lower level. He saw the fisherman walk off, but saw what seemed to be a hole leading down to a room.

Intrigued, he hopped down the hole, walked into the room, and looked to see what was in.

What he saw paralyzed him.

Curly Brace, alive, was lying on a bed, and although she looked very rough, she was alive. He ran forward to greet her, and she noticed him. The look on her face made him stop in his tracks.

She looked confused. She looked... as if she didn't recognize him.

She spoke:

"Who... are... you?"


	18. Chapter 18: Fungal Frenzy

Chapter 18: Fungal Frenzy

He looked behind him to see if she was looking behind him. There was nobody behind him. She was talking to him.

To be absolutely certain, he turned back to Curly and pointed at himself, and she nodded slowly.

Curly said one thing:

"I've never met you in my life."

Shock.

Confusion.

Desolation.

That was all he felt.

How could his best friend... his partner, even... not remember him?

"C-Curly... it's me..." He said shakily.

She shook her head.

"Whoever you are, I don't know you. Sorry," She said.

Tears streamed down Quote's face. He turned away from Curly and walked up to Cthulhu. He gave the mysterious cloaked man a cruel look.

"What... did... you... do?!" He hissed.

"Calm yourself, soldier. You know this one?," Cthulhu muttered, and Quote nodded. "I figured as much. I found her lying in the spring. If I hadn't, she'd have probably died. She says she doesn't even remember her name, the poor thing. Just a worthless nobody now."

Quote began shaking with rage.

"_**SAY THAT AGAIN!**_" He yelled.

Cthulhu chuckled.

"If you're smart, you'd best not threaten me. You don't wanna see me mad, that is something I can assure you," He warned, "Anyway, I have heard a rumour that could help her."

That calmed Quote down.

"I've heard rumours of a talking, sentient mushroom that has the power to restore one's memories if consumed. If you could find it, you could likely cure her amnesia," Cthulhu explained, "However, getting her to consume it would be... interesting to watch."

Quote was already hopping out of the small room, and hoped he could find a teleporter to go back to the village. He walked over to the lake and saw a sign.

'Watch out for Gunfish! Those who use them as platforms do so at their own peril.'

Gunfish. Wonder what those do (not).

He traversed the spring, shooting at fauna that attacked him, and eventually saw the angler Mimiga quietly fishing.

"Oh, hey," The angler said, "I caught something weird just now. You can have it, if you want. It's in the bucket."

Quote probed the bucket and pulled out a key. It had the word 'Teleporter' written on it.

Good news.

He continued jumping across the spring, and saw a door. He put the key in, and it unlocked. When he entered, he was greeted by a teleporter and a seemingly docile Droll.

He walked over to the Droll and waved. He got no response.

Guessing it was either on break, friendly, or just too dumb to attack, he walked toward the teleporter and began to tinker with it.

"_**KILLER ROBOT!**_"

Robot? Where?

His question was answered when he felt a large fist collide with his face, then he lost consciousness.

When he came to, he heard shuffling and shouting.

"Hey!"

"C'mon!"

"You're not dead, are you?!"

He felt something be crammed into his pocket, then fell back asleep.

He woke up soon later and found himself in a large jail cell with an overly sized Mimiga gluttonously munching flowers.

He got up and approached the Mimiga, who turned to him.

"Oh, you're that soldier that's been helping us, right?" They asked in a male voice, "Glad you're finally awake. We thought you might've been dead. You didn't flinch, no matter how many times Sue smacked you."

Sue was here?

"This is the jail. Those who try to defy the Doctor are thrown in here to be subjects to his experiments. That's what Sue said, at least. You a friend of hers?" He asked.

Quote nodded.

"You're a bit too late. She used to be here, before that witch Misery came and took her away. She was caring for you the whole time," The mimiga explained, "Before she was taken away, she crammed something into your pocket."

Quote searched his pockets and found a letter. He opened it and read it.

'This is Sue. I don't believe I've ever told you much about all of us. We came to this island from the surface to do research. Professor Booster was on the helicopter, same with my mother, brother, various engineers and assistants... and the Doctor as well. He was there... 'to serve our medical needs', as he said, and did so... at least, until he found the Demon Crown. That crown, once the property of the master of this island, grants terrifying magical powers upon its wearer, and the Doctor knew this before he even came to the island, and is why he wormed his way into our group in the first place."

That explained a lot.

'Once he had the Crown in his possession, no one could stand up to him. We had no choice but to continue our research under his orders. The Doctor seeks to rule the world, using this island as a base or headquarters. He plans to first attack the surface using the enraged Mimiga as weapons. Anyway, I was able to get away somehow, but some of the other researchers are already... now he's using the unsuspecting Mimigas to cultivate the Rose Wrath. Once he's ready for the attack, he'll enrage them all with the flowers, and will be able to control them with the Crown. Something about their magics being linked, or coming from the same or similar source, or something like that.'

'And that means I, too, will...'

'If you can escape this jail cell, look for the hideout hidden in the plantation. If my mother is yet safe, she'll be there, coming up with a counterplan. Please. Help my mother. The password to the hideout is Litagano Motscoud.'

The letter stopped there.

Taking all of this information in, he put the letter away and looked around for an exit. He saw some water and jumped in, and saw a small crevice going upward. He climbed up and crawled through the crevice, and saw an opening to the outside, which he crawled through, falling down to the outside.

He'd help Sue's mother.

But first, he needed to help his friend.

Yes, she didn't remember him, but that wasn't her fault.

Even if it was, she was his friend, his best friend.

And a true friend _never _leaves a friend behind.

He jumped down and returned to the teleporter room, happy to see the Droll that did him in nowhere to be found.

He fiddled with the teleporter again and set it for Arthur's house, then jumped in.

He emerged later at Arthur's house and walked out. He jumped up to the top of the village and entered into the graveyard.

If there was a magic mushroom somewhere in this island, it'd be here.

He advanced through the graveyard, shooting the normal mushrooms and weird, knife-wielding gravediggers, and looked around for a unique mushroom. He saw a door up in the roof and rocketed up to it, and went through.

To his relief, a blue mushroom with pink marks that looked oddly similar to blushes was waiting for him. It had eyes, which were closed, but it also had a mouth, which made him hopeful. He approached the mushroom.

"You got some business with me?" It asked.

Quote nodded.

"Amnesia," He explained.

"Hmm? Amnesia? Oh, how _awful,_" It muttered sarcastically, "So, you want me to give you the Mushroom Badge, then?"

Mushroom Badge?

Maybe _that's _what he needed.

He nodded.

"But in reality, you don't really want it, right?" It asked.

It was trying to screw him up.

He shook his head.

"You want it that much?" It asked.

He nodded.

"You want it absolutely positively, no matter what?" It asked.

This was getting tedious.

He nodded.

"But really, you don't need it?" It asked.

He shook his head.

"Hmph. If that's the case, I'll give it to you," It stated, then plopped out a small mushroom shaped wooden badge.

Quote picked it up and scanned it for any magical auras or anything that would tell him that it'd be useful.

Nothing.

It was a plain, stupid, boring badge.

He turned to the mushroom, and in a fit of rage he snapped the badge clean in two with one hand, and let the broken splinters drop to the floor.

"Shoot! Found me out!" It grumbled, "I'll admit it, that badge is completely useless. Well, crap. What do I do now?"

Quote's patience ran out.

"I'll tell you what you do," He hissed, "You help me _for real, _or I eat you."

"_**What?! **_You're gonna _**eat **__me?!_" It yelled, "How dare you! I'll have you know that I'm a _**VERY valuable **_mushroom, the most valuable and unique in the caves! And, the only one in the entire world that can speak!"

Quote ignored the tirade.

"You think I'm just gonna let some irritating, arrogant shmuck like you eat me?!" It screeched, "Oh, hell no! _**IT'S ON!**_"

Quote pulled out the Spur and the Blade and took a fighting stance. He threw phantom blades at it while he charged a beam. It began hopping around, trying to dodge the blades, then suddenly threw itself at him like a cannonball.

He dashed out of the way and it crashed into the wall, sending rocks falling from the ceiling. While it was embedded in the wall, he unleashed a maximum Spur beam on it, causing to shriek in pain.

It popped out of the wall and continued to bounce around, giving Quote another opportunity to charge up the Spur and throw blades at it.

It charged faster this time, and collided into him at such a speed that he was punted backward into a roll. But, he got off, shrugged it off, and released the Spur on the uncooperative mushroom once again.

It hopped to the middle, then jumped up into the air. It emerged later with about ten clones of itself, but a single Spur laser was enough to kill the clones and hurt the mushroom more.

It fell back with a shout, and Quote stuck the blade into the top of it, and it stopped moving.

It said one last thing before it died:

"I've... lost..."

Quote shook his head. Stupid mushroom, all it had to do was work with him and it would've continued living its boring life.

He sheathed the blade, picked up the mushroom, and returned to Arthur's house. Hopefully this would work on Curly.

He set the teleporter for the Plantation and entered.

It would work.

Because he didn't know what he'd do if it didn't.


	19. Chapter 19: True Friend

Chapter 19: True Friend

He stepped down from the teleporter and practically sprinted across the spring back to Curly's resting area. He jumped down, startling Curly, and Cthulhu grinned.

Quote walked up to Cthulhu and held up the mushroom.

"I see you've found it," The mysterious man muttered, "Now, I look forward to observing how you'll convince her to ingest it."

Quote frowned and walked over to Curly, who turned to him and narrowed her eyes.

"I heard a bit of what that guy said. I'm not taking food from a stranger," She stated.

That stung. That really stung him.

He sighed. This was not going to be pleasant for either of them.

"Then I must apologize," He grumbled.

"For what?" She said.

He bolted toward her and held her down.

"What are you-?!" She shouted, and he forcefully shoved the mushroom down her throat. She fell unconscious.

He walked over to the entrance and lowered his head in shame and worry.

"If I were you, I'd go and do your mission," Cthulhu said, "I'll notify you when she wakes up."

He shook his head. He'd wait.

"Very well," Cthulhu grumbled, "It's not like the fate of the world is at stake or anything."

Quote frowned.

Words could not describe how terribly nervous he was.

"Quote!"

He turned around and gased. Curly was awake, standing while leaning against the bed, and grinning from ear to ear at him.

"I remember! Your name is Quote!" She shouted.

She remembered.

She remembered everything.

Subtlety went out the window.

He tackled her to the ground in a hug, causing her to release an 'oof'.

Before he could do or say anything about it, he began to cry.

Curly was more than shocked even when Quote just tackled her in his hug, but when he heard sniffling coming from her normally stone-cold friend, everything stopped.

She hugged him back tightly, and they stayed there in that embrace for a long time.

"I'm so sorry," Quote cried.

She smiled warmly.

"Oh, Quote, since when were you such a softie?" She said light-heartedly, "You don't need to apologize for anything. You're alive. That's all I care about."

He buried his head in her shoulder, and bawled.

"Please... please... don't ever leave me again," He begged.

She hugged him tighter.

"I promise, I won't," She whispered.

She began to pat his back.

"There, there, it's okay, Quote. I'm here now. I'm here to stay," She cooed.

They slowly pulled away, and they sat down on the bed.

She cleared her throat.

"Now that I have my memories back, I should probably tell you everything that happened a decade ago, right?" She asked rhetorically, and he nodded. Anything to spend more time with his partner.

"Okay. Quite awhile ago, the surface world discovered a magically floating island in the continent Asia, and the creatures and magical oddities that dwelled within. Within those 'magical oddities' was an all-powerful object called the Demon Crown, that wicked people can not resist. Many countries developed robot soldiers to go to the island and claim the Demon Crown for their own, and kill everything that got in the way," Curly narrated.

Quote knew where this was going.

"The robots found the Mimiga, those peaceful, harmless people, and under their leaders' orders, they began to slaughter them all. They... they reduced the island to shambles in a matter of weeks," She explained sadly, "Seeing this, the leaders of some countries snapped out of their madness and came up with a new goal. They saw what the Demon Crown made people do, and decided that the Demon Crown could _not _be allowed to be taken."

Quote nodded slowly.

"These countries, the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Japan, the Dominion of Canada, and the United States of America all formed an alliance called the Pacific Rim Coalition, and decided upon a universal aim," Curly stated, "Every country in the alliance put forward much of their technology, wealth, and resources to perform research. Research to develop superhuman soldiers that would go forth to the island, combat the robots, and destroy the Demon Crown."

Quote raised an eyebrow.

"With the budget of 3 trillion American dollars, the researchers quickly completed their goal and developed a genetic and cybernetic breakthrough that would make even a poor soldier into a one-man army. However, they only had the resources to develop two copies of the process, so the countries decided again on another aim."

Quote nodded once again.

"They would select some of the best, most elite soldiers in their entire armies to go forth in a tournament to select who would become these supersoldiers. After all, you'd want the best to receive the best," She said, then smiled, "The soldiers would form two-people teams, as they decided that teamwork was the key to success. Personally, I agree."

"You were from the Canadian Armed Forces. I was from the American Armed Forces. We were both incredibly talented, and thus we were selected to go through the tournament," She explained, then smiled more, relishing old memories. "That's where we met. I was the only person you were willing to speak to, and we quickly became friends. When the time came, we formed a duo together, and when the tournament started, we easily mopped the floor with the other teams."

Quote sighed, knowing he'd do anything to remember when they first met.

"So, we were put through the research, and because of that, with our genetic enhancements we have superhuman strength, endurance, and stamina, and because of our cybernetics, we were able to communicate via our antennae, had our eyes water-proofed, and nanites put into our systems to repair our wounds, counteract poisons, and fight off illnesses and infections," She explained, "We became unstoppable, the pride and joy of our home countries. We toured around our countries so their governments could show us off, but we were sent to the island soon after."

She frowned.

"But, we got there far too late. The island was already in ruin when we got there, and many Mimigas were already dead. We focused on saving those who were left, but..." She grumbled, "We should've focused on our main goal more. A corrupt general from an enemy country managed to claim the Demon Crown for himself, and the robots deactivated at seeing their goals completed."

She frowned more.

"Seeing that our mission was failed, the surface world rejected us. Called us failures. Wastes of time, resources, and money. So, we stayed on the island and lived peacefully for awhile, that is, until, the general discovered the Rose Wrath. He captured the remaining Mimigas and planned to enrage them all, then unleash them onto the surface, just as the Doctor seems to be trying to do now. We weren't going to allow that to happen," She stated.

She frowned even more.

"We confronted him, but we were no match for him. At least not with Misery and Balrog fighting alongside him. It was a three versus two. I'm sure we were able to kill him, but..." She frowned even more, "In our battle, we were both badly wounded. Enough so that we fell into comas. Our nanites slowly fixed the wounds over time, but they couldn't fix what happened to our heads."

A solitary tear streamed down her cheek.

"That was the last thing that I can remember. All I can assume now is that we slept for ten years, and when we woke up, we didn't even remember eachother," She said sadly, "I can't believe I managed to forget you. Twice. What kind of partner am I?!"

Quote put her arm around her shoulder.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not your fault. Besides, we're here now, aren't we? We're here now, together, and now nothing can keep us apart," Quote whispered.

She nodded slowly, and smiled.

"Y-you're right," She said, then giggled, "You've changed, Quote. I'm happy to see what you've become."

He scratched his head, smiling too. Curly groaned and laid down. Quote stood up and gave her a concerned look.

"I'm... fine," She said, "It's just... a lot to take in at once."

He grabbed her hand and smiled.

If she ever needed a rock to lean on, he'd be there for her.

Always.

Curly pulled something out of her pocket. "Here, I want you to have this," She said, then put the object in Quote's hands. It was a small iron cube with a ruby heart in the top.

He gave her a confused look.

"My mother gave that to me when I was young. She called it the Iron Bond, anf told me to keep it for when I was older, so that later when I found someone special, a true friend that I cared deeply for and knew I could rely on, to give it to them, so that we could stay friends for eternity, no matter what."

Quote cradled the object, unsure of what to say.

"C-Curly," He said, "I... I..."

She put her finger to his lips to silence him.

"You're my best friend. My only truefriend. The one person I care about, and the one person who I'd do anything for to keep them safe. Please, keep it. I want you to have it, so we can stay friends forever," She said, and Quote hung it from his toolbelt, smiling warmly.

He looked her in the eyes.

"Thank you," He said.

"No, thank _you_," She said, then yawned. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

He squeezed her hand, then left. His goal was complete.

Now, he had a job to do.

**A/N: Such a warm and fluffy moment. As you can all likely tell, this story will end shortly. Hey, Cave Story isn't a long game. Don't worry, though. I plan on doing some... other things. Like I said earlier, maybe writing about Crystal Crisis. Maybe I'll write a sequel. Maybe I'll write a prequel. Or maybe, I'll write a series of one-shots, like what MetroidMan101 did. Who knows? Either way, keep your eyes peeled.**


	20. Chapter 20: Rocketman

Chapter 20: Rocketman

Quote boosted his way back to the upper level of the plantation and began to look around for the supposed hideout. After some poking around, he found a suspicious looking stone and prodded it. It moved out of the way, revealing a small tunnel.

He grabbed the stone, went into the tunnel, and secured the stone behind him. He crawled through and fell down to a door, which he knocked on.

"What's the password?" A female voice asked.

Quote pulled out Sue's letter and looked at the bottom. How was he supposed to pronounce that?...

He took a guess.

"Litagano Motscoud," He said, his voice barely above a whisper. The door unlocked and he walked inside. He hopped down and saw a tall, green-haired woman standing next to a strange white and blue device.

"So, you are the saviour Sue spoke of," The woman stated, and Quote nodded uncomfortably. He didn't like being called a 'saviour'. He was just a soldier doing what felt right to him. That doesn't make a saviour.

"Oh, thank goodness," She muttered, "I am Momorin Sakamoto, mother to Sue and Kazuma. I used to take my chances working with the Doctor, but once he found the Rose seeds he had no use for me, and he planned to have me killed. Chivalry is dead, let me tell you."

Quote scratched his head.

"But that's aside the point. Right now I'm working on building a rocket, which is that blue-white machine over there, that will take you to the Doctor's throne room. However, I'm missing a few parts," Momorin explained, then saw the jetpack on Quote's back.

She cleared her throat, and he raised an eyebrow.

"That is a Booster v2.0, yes?" She asked, and he nodded. "Good, I need to borrow it," She said, then he took it off and gave it to her.

He frowned.

Not having the Booster was going to be like losing a leg for him.

"I still need a couple more parts. Are you busy at the moment?" She asked, and he shook his head. "Good answer. Our saviour indeed. Here, put this on for now."

She handed him a Mimiga disguise, and he put it on over his clothes.

"How charming. It seems to fit you perfectly. The Mimigas here are not allowed to speak with humans, but using that should allow you to speak with them," She explained, "To complete the rocket, I'll need plenty of electrical power. If you could somehow get ahold of one of those sprinklers the farmers use, the batteries from them should be enough power. So, go get me one."

He nodded and left. He grumbled to himself.

He didn't have a mirror, but he didn't need one to figure out that he looked ridiculous.

He crawled back through the tunnel, pushed the stone away, jumped down, replaced said stone, and looked around. Where would he find a sprinkler? Surely they wouldn't just allow him to grab one and run off with it.

He walked around the fields looking for something that could help him. To his luck, he saw a sprinkler that seemed to be broken. Maybe, just maybe, he could...

He saw a Mimiga tending flowers next to the sprinkler and approched them.

"Oho, you're new here, aren't ya?" They asked, and he nodded. "I bet you're probably still confused, being picked up and dropped here right out of nowhere. Well, just remember: don't try anything funny. If you get caught running away, refusing to work, or saying things about the Doctor, they'll throw you in jail. As long as you keep a low profile and tend the flowers, you'll stay free and you'll get to eat."

Wow.

But that didn't help him at all.

He looked around and saw an irritated Mimiga staring at the broken sprinkler. He jumped up and approached the annoyed Mimiga.

"It busted _again!_" They shouted, then looked at Quote. "Hey, newbie, take that busted sprinkler and exchange it for a new one. I'm getting sick and tired of this crap."

Quote nodded.

"_**HURRY! **_The flowers will wilt!" The Mimiga yelled, and Quote got moving. He picked up the sprinkler, navigated back to the Mimiga resting area, and walked forward to where the spare sprinklers were kept.

He plonked the broken sprinkler down, and the Mimiga watching over the sprinklers rolled their eyes.

"Another one?" They grumbled, taking the sprinkler. "Be gentle with this one, newbie," The Mimiga muttered, and handed Quote a new sprinkler. He nodded and returned to Momorin's hideout.

"What's the password?"

"Litagano Motscoud."

He entered and walked up to Momorin.

"Welcome back. I see you found a sprinkler," She muttered, taking the sprinkler. She examined it. "Let's see here... the batteries are at full power, this sprinkler must be brand new."

She put the sprinkler down next to the rocket.

"Next, I need you to track down a man named Itoh," She said.

Itoh?

How convenient.

"He's an 'engineer of considerable talent', to use his words, but he's also one of the most timid and easily startled men I've ever met. He fled the Doctor immediately after he got the Crown, but he can't have gone far," She explained, "He has a device I need to control this rocket."

Quote nodded and left. He exited through the tunnel again, and meandered his way back to the Plantation entrance. He entered the door and walked up to Itoh.

"Itoh?" Quote whispered.

"Itoh? Yes, that's me, why?" The engineer asked.

"Momorin's building a rocket," Quote whispered again.

"Hmm? Sakamoto is building a rocket?" Itoh muttered, "So she's still alive... a fierce one, she is. Completely unlike me. Very well, take this."

Itoh handed a device to Quote, who nodded in appreciation, then left.

He returned to the hideout once again.

"What's the password?"

Was she going to do this every single time he wanted to get in?

He sighed.

"Litagano Motscoud."

He entered.

"Welcome back," She greeted, "Did you find Itoh?"

He nodded and gave the device to her.

"This is it, alright. This is the Controller he's so proud of," She muttered, "Hmm... it would actually be much easier if he were actually here. Well, I'll manage. Thank you very much."

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Not like he really had anything else to do.

"It'll take quite awhile to complete the rocket. Why don't you go through that door and have a rest?" She suggested, and he nodded.

It was then he realized how tired he was. He slowly walked over to the door, entered, and saw a bed in the middle of the room. He laid down in the bed, and drifted off to sleep, hoping Curly would be recovered enough so they could have one last battle together.

He woke up some time later feeling completely energized, and walked out of the room, only to find Momorin and the rocket gone.

His heart dropped. Surely she wasn't captured? No, because the ruckus would've woken him up, or he'd have been taken as well.

He exited the hideout, went through the tunnel, and looked around. He jumped up above and saw Momorin and Itoh standing next to the rocket.

"Did you rest well?" She greeted, "I couldn't complete the rocket without Itoh's help, so I managed to convince him to come out of hiding. All of the Mimigas are gone, as well. They may have already been enraged. You must hurry. Also, I won't be needing this anymore."

Momorin gave Quote back his Booster, and he put it on immediately.

"And you won't be needing that Mimiga disguise anymore," She said amusedly, then Quote quickly took it off and handed it to her. "Directly above us is a path to the Doctor's throne room. You should be able to get there using the rocket. Go on, now!"

Quote scratched his head and backed off.

"You have unfinished business," Momorin said, "Well, go do whatever you need to, but do it quickly. We don't have all day."

Quote nodded and took off for Curly's resting area. He got there quickly and entered. She saw him enter and smiled at him. She was looking better.

"Hey," She greeted. He sat down next to her on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better, I guess," She answered, "I feel better now that you're here."

He smiled and scratched his head.

"I'm about to finally confront the Doctor," Quote said, then sighed.

Curly frowned, concerned.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm... I'm..." He stuttered, "I'm afraid. Not just that, I'm terrified. I won't be able to do this alone."

Curly smiled.

"Yes you can, I know it," She reasoned, and he shook his head.

"We were barely able to beat the last wearer of the Demon Crown, the two of us. And I'm going to be facing the Doctor alone. I... the thought of... doing something so... so vital... so important... so... _dreadful_... look. I could fight all the armies of the world by your side and face it all down without any second thought. But being alone now... I can't do this," He grumbled.

"Look. Ten years ago, that was a three on two fight. Not to mention, both of us were not as skilled then as we are now. Even more, we were nowhere _near_ as well equipped. I used my machine gun, and you only used dual pistols. Now you have a freaking missile launcher, dude. I've seen you fight alone. You're a one man army. The Doctor doesn't stand a chance," Curly explained, "Oh, and you'll probably be fighting the Doctor one on one this time, so it'll be more fair."

"You don't get it," He said painfully, "I can't do this without you. I... I get what you're saying, but I don't want to be alone again. Not after everything we've done together."

Curly hugged him.

"Don't worry, Quote. I'll be cheering you on the whole way," She whispered.

"As will I," Cthulhu butted in. The two turned to him.

"Private conversation," Curly grumbled, and Cthulhu chuckled, then disappeared. "As I was saying, the whole island, maybe even the whole world is rooting for you. Okay?"

Quote took a deep breath, smirked, and nodded.

"Yes," He said, "I must be going."

He got up and walked over to the exit.

"Wait!"

He turned around, and Curly got up and planted a small kiss on his cheek. That alone sent him into euphoria.

She smiled.

"Go get him, soldier boy," She said, and he nodded.

He left.

A regicide is surely brewing.


	21. Chapter 21: The Final Cave

Chapter 21: The Final Cave

As he made his way back to the rocket, his mind was racing. It was rather obvious what he was thinking about.

He needed to re-evaluate how he saw his partner.

Why had she done that? Did she like him? Or was she just trying to boost his morale?

He shook away the thoughts as he returned to the rocket, and Momorin raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you ready?" She asked, and he nodded with a smirk. "Good. Just hop on and flip the switch," She muttered, and Quote felt something tug on his pant leg.

He looked down and saw one of Jenka's puppies looking up at him.

"Long time no arf, mister soldier!" It said, surprising him. A talking dog? "I was told to bring this to you. Good luck on fighting the Doctor, and tell Curly I said hi!" It exclaimed, dropping a full resupply of missiles.

He nodded in appreciation and stepped on the rocket. He saw the switch and flicked it on.

The rocket rumbled to life and shot up into a vertical tunnel. Quote saw those... Demon Crown-like things covering the walls all the way up.

The rocket shot by them, barely missing them all. So that's why he couldn't just fly up with the Booster.

He hopped off of the rocket and saw a door ahead. He opened it and walked through.

He felt a breeze, but it felt... wrong. A... black wind blew through his body.

All weapons dropped to Level 1.

As soon as he entered the cave, he examined his weapons. The Spur seemed unharmed, but he knew something bad had happened to his other weapons.

He heard a wooshing noise in front of him and looked to see Cthulhu appear.

"I see you have succumbed to the black wind. You will need to find glowing yellow crystals or canisters to repair your weapons," He said, then threw a yellow canister to Quote.

Sure enough, it contained yellow crystals. He put the canister in the Super Missile, and heard a clicking noise in it. He heard cackling, and the mysterious man disappeared.

Quote began to advance through the cave, minding blood-red acid dripping from the ceiling, and shooting blood-red critters.

He skipped over a small pool of acid and saw a narrow gap over a larger pool of acid with spikes in front of him. He dove forward and used the Booster to shoot through the gap with ease.

Something told him that this last cave was going to put his skills to the test.

He flew over another pool of acid, jumped onto a platform, boosted between some spikes, and looked up to see another yellow canister. He grabbed it and put it in his Super Missile again, and confirmed that it was back to normal.

He skimmed over a pool of acid in front of him, but looked up and saw another canister. There was no way he'd be able to grab that and not land in the acid, so he doubled back and shot it, and when the crystals spewed out he caught them with the Blade.

He shot up through a vertical spike tunnel, landed on a wall, jumped onto a stone block sticking out of the wall, and boosted up to a higher level. From there he jumped over a wall and boosted high above a pool of acid, and landed on another wall.

He jumped down through a small spike-lined tunnel and landed next to another yellow canister, which he grabbed. He examined the blade, and saw it back to normal, so he put the canister in the Fireball, which immediately returned to normal.

He jumped and boosted over a spike, landed on a platform, and looked up to see another canister, which he grabbed and put in the Bubbler. It returned to normal as well.

He saw a canister at the other end of the room but saw no need to grab it, so he boosted to the other end of the room and dropped down.

He boosted over two more acid pools, boosted up and over another spike-lined wall, and landed on a solitary block in an acid pool.

Indeed, this cave was definitely straining his platforming skills.

He jumped over an acid pool, then boosted over a wall, landing on the other side of the wall, and jumped inside a small pool of water.

He jumped out the other side and boosted up further through the cave, and raised an eyebrow at what he saw.

Two sets of spikes placed very close together on gaps in walls, and a pool of acid between them, so he'd have nowhere to land.

He jumped through the first gap and shot through the other, but misjudged his timing, and a spike grazed his left arm.

He hissed out in pain and examined his arm, finding a blue liquid trickling down from where he was cut.

Right, genetic enhancements.

However, he barely noticed that the gash seemed to be healing itself, so he continued through the cave. He decided to go slowly. Ahead, he saw a narrow gap in the roof surrounded by spikes on all sides. He shook his head and boosted up through the gap without issue.

After that, he saw that the floor went down into a pit of spikes with a small gap in the center. He jumped and boosted over to the gap, fell through, noticed another spike beneath him, and was barely able to boost through another gap before he could be impaled.

He saw a gap ahead and a hole leading up and down, and looked through it. A spike at the bottom, and the cave continued at the top. He boosted up and out of the hole, and landed on top of a wall.

He looked down to see a pool of acid, some blocks in said pool of acid, and more spikes. He groaned.

How fricking long was this stupid cave gonna be?!

Regardless, he hopped down onto some blocks, boosted between two spikes, landed on another block, and boosted up further into the cave. He looked down and saw another pool of acid and another set of spikes on the ceiling and floor, then took a deep breath.

He jumped down, boosted through the spikes, and boosted up onto a platform just as the Booster ran out.

Ahead, he saw a long, narrow gap riddled with spikes, jumped, boosted through the gap, and landed on a rock in a large chamber with even more spikes riddled through it.

Seeing a gap above, he jumped and boosted up, landing out of the chamber next to another canister.

He decided to pick it up, turned around, and walked over into a chamber with a red creature that looked similar to a Droll waiting for him inside.

It put its hand down, and shields trapped them both inside.

Quote pulled out the Spur and Blade and took a defensive stance.

It jumped into the air and threw red/green blades at him, but he dashed out of the way and shot a fully charged Spur beam at it. It growled as it landed, then it tried jumping and throwing blades again.

Quote waited for it to land, then got in close and slashed it repeatedly with the blade. It kicked him back, causing him to fly back into the wall.

He groaned and got up, charged another beam, and released it on the thing as it jumped again.

This time it tried to land on him, but he rolled out of the way and countered with another flurry of slashes from the Blade. It tried to kick him away, but he dashed behind it, slashed it again, and when it turned around, he flipped into the air and thrust the blade downward with a shout.

The blade lodged in its head, and he pried it free as it turned to stone and dropped a chest.

He opened the chest, revealing a strange medal with an odd black engraving on the front. He shrugged his shoulders and pocketed it.

He looked up to see the shields gone, and hopped out of the arena. He shot some critters that attacked him, and saw more acid dripping from the ceiling. He boosted ahead, dodging the falling acid droplets, but stopped when he saw what seemed to be an entire herd of critters awaiting him as the cave opened up.

He pulled out the Fireball and Bubbler and effortlessly cleared them out, then continued advancing through the cave.

He jumped up into what seemed to be the final stretch, but heard rumbling above him and dashed back as another of those living rectangles crashed down into the floor.

The rest of the cave was going to be littered with them, wasn't it?

He shot the thing and took a step forward, looking up. Judging by all the holes in the ceiling, yes.

He charged his Spur, then walked forward and released it upward, killing another rectangle before it could even react. He repeated this until the cave opened into a pool of acid.

He could see that the _entire roof _was covered with rectangles. No way he was going to shoot them all, it'd take all day.

He took a deep breath, then charged through with the Booster, hearing a cacophany of bangs behind him. He landed on the other side panting.

He shot two critters, walked forward, looked up, and was relieved to see a door. He jumped up to it and walked through.

He found himself on a bleak marble balcony at the top of the island.

Seeing a large, grand marble building looming in the distance, he began running towards it, but was stopped by two rabid Mimiga.

So he'd already begun to enrage them.

He had no time to lose.

He evaded the enraged Mimiga and continued bolting toward the building, running past a helicopter and a small run-down building. He was stopped by three rabid Mimiga, one looking oddly similar to one he fought awhile ago, but avoided them and ran into the building.

It was definitely the Doctor's throne room.

And floating above the large, ominous throne was none other than the witch Misery. He approached her, and she smirked menacingly.

"So, it's you," She said, lowering to the ground, "You really are a tenacious one, to have gotten this far. I suppose you are here to destroy the core?"

Quote sighed and nodded. He had no other choice, regrettably.

"Before I considered you nothing but a reckless soldier getting in over your head, but I underestimated you. Foolish on my part, as you and your friend killed the last king," She grumbled, "You should know that I carry no affection for this island. It is simply my fate to obey the one who wears the Crown."

Quote frowned. And it was his fate to destroy the Crown.

"It is time I fix my errors," She stated.

She smirked evilly.

"Shall we?"


	22. Chapter 22: Regicide

Chapter 22: Regicide

Quote wielded the Spur and Blade yet again as Misery flew into the air. She chanted a spell, and a large marble block materialized over Quote's head, and he dashed out of the way.

He shot a laser at her, but she disappeared.

She reappeared on the other side of the room, and released three black spheres from her staff which slowly floated towards him.

He judged what they would do and dashed to the other side of the room, dodging the spheres as they crashed down as lightning bolts behind him.

He unleashed another Spur laser at her, and this time it hit.

She growled and channeled three pulsing black spheres which zoomed toward him, but he jumped over them and slashed her with the blade.

She disappeared, then reappeared in the center of the room with two black spheres orbiting around her.

He waited for the bubbles to move away, then shot another laser at her. It hit her, and she channeled another block over his head. He moved out of the way, and she disappeared again. The bubbles turned into orange bats which charged at him. Two normal Spur shots and they were gone.

She reappeared again with two more orbiting bubbles, then released a flurry of black spheres in his direction. They spread out enough that one slammed into his chest, causing him to fly backwards with a grunt.

He got up immediately and charged another laser, and when she disappeared, he released the laser toward the other end of the room, and she reappeared directly in its path, completely surprising her.

She tumbled around in the air, stunned, and Quote took out his Super Missile.

Three missiles were released, which collided with the witch.

She fell to the ground with a scream, clutching onto her staff as a support. She then disappeared.

Quote turned back to the entrance and saw a series of blocks appear, and a block in the roof disappear. He boosted up to the roof and through the gap into a second level.

The sight made his blood boil.

Many cages full of Mimiga were hanging in the background near a strange marble table with Rose Wrath flowers growing near it. The Doctor stood in front of the table, hiding most of the table, and he approached him.

The Doctor noticed his presence without even seeing him.

He cackled evilly, sending chills down Quote's back.

"Finally, it is complete," The Doctor stated, then turned to Quote with his typical condescending smirk. "Administering these flowers to a Mimiga causes it to fly into a violent rage. This we both know well, you and I. The reason for this, in fact, is quite simple. The flowers contain not only a magical substance capable of drawing out one's latent abilities, but also one that crushes one's very faculties of reason. It is the former that I have fully extracted and concentrated into this masterpiece..."

He grabbed an object from the table and revealed it to Quote. It was an ominous looking blood-red crystal.

"The Red Crystal," The Doctor explained, "And, unlike the flowers, this crystal can affect humans as well."

Quote narrowed his eyes. What was he saying?

The Doctor chuckled at his reaction.

"It is wondrous! Do you understand the magnificence of this? _**Do you?!**_" He yelled, but Quote remained unfazed. "I doubt a simpleton like you would," He grumbled.

Quote put a hand to his Spur.

"Then allow me to explain it..." The Doctor muttered, "_**IN A SPECIAL LECTURE!**_"

The Red Crystal began to orbit him as he took a reddish tint.

Quote charged up the Spur, and the Doctor raised his right arm, releasing a double helix of neon red projectiles. Quote jumped over the attack and unloaded the Spur on the Doctor, but the Red Crystal intercepted the attack and completely absorbed it.

The Doctor disappeared, and the Red Crystal floated over to the other side of the room, where the Doctor reappeared.

Aha!

He sent out another double helix attack, and Quote kept his Spur charged.

The Doctor disappeared once again, and Quote saw the Red Crystal fly over to the opposite end of the room.

He released a max Spur beam in that direction, and when the Doctor reappeared, there was nothing to stop the beam from hitting him.

He took a step back, growled, and released another double helix.

Quote charged up the Spur again, and the Doctor teleported into the center of the room, then floated up into the air.

The Doctor then released a large amount of red spheres that began to bounce around the room, and fell to the ground, where he was hit by another Spur beam.

"Pathetic soldier!" He shouted, stomping his foot down.

Quote took this chance to bolt over to the Doctor, jumped into the air, and slashed both the Red Crystal and the Demon Crown with the Blade, hoping it would destroy either. The Doctor screamed in pain.

He landed and took a few steps back. The Red Crystal began to glow eerily, and the eye-gem in the center of the Demon Crown turned black.

The Doctor fell to his knees and began clutching his head, seemingly trying to pry off the Demon Crown, but it bore down into his head.

The Doctor weakly looked at Quote with a look of horror and malice.

"Wh... what did you do?!" He shouted, "Th-the power... _**I can't control it!**_"

A powerful aura washed through the room like a tidal wave, causing Quote to take some steps back and clutch his head.

He opened his eyes, and to his horror, saw the Doctor's body grow into... an abomination.

He... it roared, then jumped at Quote, who dashed back and shot a beam at it. The Red Crystal was still orbiting around the 'Doctor', but above his head.

The beam slammed into its side, and did nothing except anger it.

Quote was shocked, and the beast grabbed him, slammed him against the ground, and threw him into a wall.

He got up and looked for a weak spot. Not the Red Crystal, it seemed too tough to break. But the Demon Crown...

He charged up a Spur shot and shot it at the Crown's eye. The beast clutched its head and howled in pain. Yep, that did it.

It charged at him, eager to elbow him into oblivion, but he shot the Crown's eye and jumped over it.

It jumped into the center of the room and put its arms out in Quote's direction. It then released a swarm of orange bats.

Quote slashed the Blade in any and every direction, and none of the bats hit him. The Crown beast then charged at him again while he was distracted, punting him into the wall.

Quote weakly got up, and the beast jumped at him again.

He needed to end this.

Now.

He dashed out of the way, and the beast tried to punch him into the ground, but he jumped over the attack, and with a war cry, stuck the blade right through the Crown's eye, shattering it into a million pieces.

The beast roared in agony, then crumbled into a mist of blood. The Red Crystal flew into the air.

The Doctor was dead.

Now all he needed to do was finish off the Core.

Then he'd find Curly again and they'd get off this island with the Sakamotos.

He turned to the entrance of the room, and saw more blocks appear, and a block in the ceiling disappear.

He boosted into the hole, and found himself in a pitch-black room. Ahead laid the Core.

He walked towards it.

"_**THAT'S FAR ENOUGH!**_"

He stopped in his tracks, and Misery appeared, then landed in front of him. She chanted a spell, and an unconscious Sue fell to the ground in front of her. Misery grabbed her roughly and put the gem of the staff to her neck.

"Step away from the Core if you value her life!" Misery shouted.

Quote stepped back and put up his arms in a sign of peace.

"Hmph. I'd never have thought that a soldier like _you_ could value another's life over their mission," She scoffed, "To kill not one, but two kings... well, so be it. Let me offer you a deal. You, she, and your partner can all die with the island, or you can leave and forget you ever came here."

Quote frowned. What if she was lying?

"If you leave at once, I can guarantee this girl's life," Misery stated, "Otherwise-"

The room shook.

"You shall not escape!"

Both Quote and Misery looked around, confused. Sue woke up from the sudden threat and ran over to Quote. They were the only three in the room, and that voice sounded ominously familiar.

"Who goes there?" Misery yelled.

The voice chuckled. A blood-red mist began to congregate behind Misery.

Quote got an extremely bad feeling.

"Have you already forgotten the voice of your master?"

Both Quote and Misery gasped, and Misery stared right at the mass of blood.

"The power of the Red Crystal is truly incredible. It fills me even now. My body may have been destroyed, but my mind is clear. It feels as if I have become superhuman!"

Misery scowled.

"Impossible!" She shouted.

"What's wrong, Misery? Is this form... _dreadful?_"

Misery clutched her head and snarled

"Are you not dead?! _**BEGONE!**_" She yelled, then proceeded to conjur black spheres which passed right through the Doctor harmlessly.

"Tsk, tsk. A fool who would forget her own master does not deserve free will."

Misery began shaking with rage.

"Misery. You will be my puppet until the day you die."

The cloud of blood shrouded over Misery before anyone could react, and her screams could be heard as she transformed into a bird-like abomination.

Sue tugged on Quote's arm.

"Umm, we've gotta go!" She yelled, then ran over to the exit, but the Red Crystal materialized from thin air and began orbiting around her. "Huh?" She muttered, then she, too, was possessed by the Crystal's demonic power.

Her body stretched until she looked similar to a woman in a Mimiga suit, but there was no mistaking the ferocity in her eyes.

The Doctor cackled maniacally as the blood shrouded into the core, and the core revealed a blood-red face.

Quote trembled with fear.

"_**You won't leave this place alive!**_"


	23. Chapter 23: Dance With Death

Chapter 23: Dance With Death

Quote readied the Spur and Blade, and chaos bloomed.

The possessed Sue jumped at him, taking a spin, and the possessed Misery summoned a group of orange critters. The Doctor-no. It wasn't the Doctor anymore.

The Undead Core spat out brown-orange spheres that hit the ceiling and floor, sending shockwaves zooming through the room. Quote dodged all of the attacks and bashed the possessed Sue with the guard of the blade.

There was no saving them now, and as sad as it was, he had friends to return to.

It hissed and jumped back, and Quote lined up a shot with the two monsters, then released a max Spur beam on them.

The possessed Misery floated into the air and summoned a swarm of bats, and he shot another laser at her.

This pattern continued as the Core flew back and forth throughout the space, sending waves of Core-lings throughout. Quote used them as platforms.

He continued to focus on Misery, dodging the onslaught of critters, bats, and more, until he charged up to her and roundhouse kicked her in the face, and she fell to the ground, defeated.

He turned his attention back to the possessed Sue, and waited for her to jump at him again. When she did so, he dashed backward and hit her with a max Spur beam and a flurry of phantom blades.

It was enough to incapacitate her in an instant. He retreated to the back of the room and jumped onto a block as the Core opened again, looking upon its defeated minions.

Quote smirked.

"It's just you and me now," He taunted.

"So be it," It responded, then hid its 'face' and revealed a grinning mouth, and four Corelings spinning around it opened eyes and shot projectiles at Quote, who dodged and hit the Core right in the teeth with another max Spur beam.

He jumped from Coreling to coreling, approaching the Core as it hid its face again and opened it soon after, revealing a wide open mouth.

Quote was caught off guard. Why would his enemy do something that made it so vulnerable? He charged up another Spur beam and prepared to release it, when the mouth began glowing white.

He dove out of the way before a series of large white fireballs erupted from the Core. He aimed in the opened mouth and released the beam, as the Core attempted to turn to face him.

His agility was too much, so the Core hid its face yet again.

Predicting the Core's movement, Quote pre-emptively released a Spur beam, and the Core opened up to the beam slamming right into it. It closed again in surprise, and Quote grinned.

"How-?!" It grumbled.

Quote chuckled.

"You are... insignificant! A... little nothing! A worthless pest! A nuisance!" It screamed, "_**JUST DIE ALREADY!**_"

Expecting a final attack, Quote readied his Super Missile and aimed it right at the Core. It summoned several Corelings to its side and they all opened, then began spewing out projectiles into a focused point toward Quote.

His jaw dropped and he began sprinting out of the way, then when the assault stopped, he ran straight for the core and hopped from Coreling to Coreling, avoiding more projectiles until he jumped right in front of the opened Core and aimed the Missile Launcher directly at its center.

"Your reign is officially," He yelled, "_**OVER!**_"

He unloaded 30 missiles into the Core, causing the entire room to resonate with a deep _**BOOOM!**_

The Core crumbled, and all that could be heard was the rumbling of explosions and the Doctor's scream of agony.

The room filled with a white light, and Quote shielded his eyes. When he looked around the room again, he saw the Red Crystal lying on the ground. He walked over to it and prodded it, and it crumbled into a fading red dust.


	24. Chapter 24: Hell Breaks Loose

Chapter 24: Hell Breaks Loose

Misery was gone, and Sue was back to normal.

The entire building began to shake and rumble.

Curly was resting in bed, wanting only to hear again from her partner. She took a deep breath, deep in thought.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when the earth began shaking.

"Wait, huh?!" She mumbled, "An earthquake?"

A trilling noise was heard, and she looked around to see someone there that alarmed her.

Misery.

"Your idiot friend destroyed the Core," She grumbled, "Now you two are going to deal with it. I'll give you something to help you."

"_**What?! **_He destroyed the Core?!" Curly screamed, "Oh, nonononononono!"

Misery chanted a spell, and a lightning bolt struck Curly, knocking her unconscious.

"I hope he finds it..." Misery muttered, and they both disappeared.

Quote felt a tugging on his arm. Sue was up and staring at him in a panicked and pleading expression.

"The island's beginning to collapse!" She screamed, "It's only a matter of time before this place collapses, too! We need to move!"

She ran off, and Quote bolted after her. He fell down to the first level of the building and bolted out the door, where Sue was waiting impatiently for him.

"Move it! Run as fast as you possibly can or you're gonna get crushed!" She yelled, then ran off again.

He boosted off after her, and noticed stone blocks of varying size falling from the sky. He minded them all and continued zooming back over the balcony.

He ran past the decrepit building from earlier, but stopped, and turned back to it.

He didn't know why, but he had an overwhelming urge to enter.

He did so, and looked down to see a hole leading somewhere in the floor of the house.

He could physically feel the dark magic emanating like mad from the hole, and it seemed to go to the very center of the island.

Maybe he could fix this.

He jumped down.

A black wind blew through his body.

All weapons dropped to Level 1.

He landed next to a sign, and read it.

'Welcome to Hell!'

He looked around, and frowned. The place seemed oddly peaceful except for all the rumbling, but he noticed the perpetual orange and red stains throughout the place. It seemed like a sanctuary, a blood stained sanctuary.

He looked down to see a diagonally downward pit with spikes lining the bottom, and jumped off, boosting along to fly over the spikes and descend through the cave.

He saw more spikes below him and boosted along, then boosted up to land on solid ground. He heard a voice in his head.

"Did you know the witchwoman Jenka once had a brother? His name was Ballos. Like his sister, he possessed magical powers unlike any mortal."

He boosted over a spike and jumped down through a hole, grabbed two yellow canisters, and upgraded his Super Missile back to normal.

He jumped down and boosted past more spikes, then dropped down through a vertical tunnel, grabbing more canisters along the way. When he neared the bottom, he saw more spikes and boosted along, barely managing to land next to a door.

"He used his magical powers to help and guide others, and the people of his kingdom loved and respected him, even more so than they did their own king."

Someone was laying on the ground ahead of him.

His eyes widened.

It was Curly.

She groaned and weakly tried to stand up, then collapsed to the ground.

He upgraded his weapons back to normal and hoisted Curly over his back so that they were facing opposite ways, then tied their waists together very tightly with the Tow Rope.

He walked through the door and looked around. The ceiling seemed to be crumbling through a long corridor, and orange blocks of stone were falling from the ceiling. He boosted through the corridor, dodging falling blocks, then he was greeted by a small group of 'angels' wielding white swords.

They charged at him, but he slashed any that came too close with the blade.

He jumped on top of a loose stone and heard the voice again.

"The jealous king had Ballos apprehended and imprisoned, where he received brutal and cruel punishment. Humans can be terrible creatures indeed."

Quote had a feeling where this was going. He continued forward into the corridor, and saw an entrance in the floor deeper into the sanctuary, but it was barricaded.

Curious how to get through, he stopped paying attention to what was around him, and a medium-sized stone block fell from above him. He saw the shadow looming above him and looked up to see it fall, and in reflex, put his arms up, closed his eyes, and fell on one knee.

The angels chuckled.

"Welp, he's dead. Back to your stations!" One shouted.

No. Not yet.

He opened his eyes to reveal himself barely suspending the stone above him. Pure adrenaline pumped through his veins. He put every ounce of strength in his system to raising the block further up, and was able to stand up.

Gasps were heard, one from right behind him.

With a feral screech, he threw the rock down through the barricade, clearing it. He panted heavily and jumped down.

"Under the extreme cruelty of the torture, Ballos snapped. He became so desperate to escape and eager for revenge that he lost all control over his magic. The king was consumed by his rage and was obliterated in an instant. In but a single night, the kingdom that Ballos so loved was reduced to ashen ruins, by his own hands."

Wow.

He heard Curly chuckle nervously. She was awake.

"Quote... did I just hallucinate?" She asked timidly, "Or did I just see you throw a stone block like a superhero?"

He whispered a small, uncomfortable 'yes'.

He heard whistling, then looked ahead. He heard Curly fumble with her pockets.

"Huh, this wasn't there before," She said, pulling out a sleek black and blue gun. "Hm. I'll protect your flank."

He flew ahead, shooting some more angels, and dodged another rectangle death trap.

He quickly looked up in the roof and saw more, so he descended to the bottom and simply ran ahead.

He jumped on top of a small pillar and boosted up on top of a wall, then looked ahead to see two large angels and some normal ones awaiting him. The large ones were chucking stone blocks.

He charged up the Spur and released it on them, clearing them out instantly.

"Why did you destroy the Core, anyway?" Curly asked.

"I had no choice," Quote explained, "When I killed the Doctor, an artifact he made somehow kept him alive, even though I completely annihilated his body, and he possessed the Core. Also, it was the only way to pacify the rabid Mimigas."

"Oh... that makes sense," She mumbled.

Quote was stopped by a wall, and saw an octagon with a closed eye in the wall. Irritated, he shot it, and it opened its eye, then began releasing a monotone countdown. It was a bomb.

He stepped back and the thing exploded, opening up the wall.

He jumped through the wall and was greeted by two angel archers, which he shot, then he turned around to see a large rubble wall awaiting him. He charged the Spur, and heard wooshing from above him.

"Nice try!" Curly shouted, and he heard blasts, then screams of pain. "This gun is _good. _Wonder who made it?"

Quote unleashed the Spur through the rubble wall, destroying it and activating another wall bomb. He heard Curly firing again behind him, and when the bomb exploded, he dove through the hole in the wall.

He saw strange, red, circular things rolling across the walls, and another wall bomb ahead. He shot it, and waited five seconds, jumping over the rollers.

It exploded, and he jumped through.

Surely the island was getting close to the surface now.

"Jenka, seeing her brother's madness, confined him to this island and pushed it high into the sky, creating the Labyrinth and the Core to keep it afloat should something happen to her. That was all she could do. For her, killing her brother was not something she could do. Ballos, in a fit of rage and insanity, vowed to get his revenge and bring this island crashing down to the ground. It is why this island plummets to the ground now."

Quote burst forth into the next room, jumping over a small spike pit.

"Behind you!" Curly shouted, then fired off her weapon again. A few screams, and the firing stopped.

He continued through the cave, shooting two more buff angels and and being greeted by a wall of angel archers.

"Holy-"

He switched to the Bubbler and unleashed it on the archers, wiping them out, then jumped up the wall and shot another bomb.

Ahead, the walls on all sides were covered with archers. They'd be overwhelmed.

An idea popped into his head.

"Okay," He stated, "I'm going to jump into the center of the room and spin around a lot, you shoot directly ahead of you as fast as possibly and I'll do the same."

"Sounds cool," Curly responded.

"3, 2, 1, go!" He shouted, then jumped into the center of the room with a sin, shooting everything ahead of him with the Spur and Bubbler.

When he landed, the room was basically clear.

Curly laughed whole-heartedly.

"We really are a dream team, you and I," She said, and Quote smiled.

An explosion was heard, and Quote saw a hole in the wall, which he jumped through.

The room ahead was riddled with spikes, and the wall ahead had 3 bombs in it. He shot the lowest one. Five seconds later, he burst through and nearly landed in spikes, but was able to clamber up onto some stone blocks.

He looked up, shot some more angels as Curly was doing the same, and saw a chest at the very top of the room. He quickly shot toward it and opened it, revealing two full refills of missiles.

He reloaded the Super Missile, pocketed the rest, hopped back down to where he was before, and shot another bomb.

Five seconds later, and he saw another bomb directly behind where the last one exploded. He shot that one as well.

They must be nearing the end, with this much security.

"It was Jenka's daughter Misery who made Ballos create the Demon Crown. Ballos, in the tiny piece of his former self he had left, saw her foul intentions and subsequently cursed her to it, forced to obey whoever wore it. Should the Crown be destroyed, the curse is lifted. However..."

He jumped through the holes in the walls and stepped forward into a long rectangular room, and looked up to see something odd hiding in the wall.

He decided it was a security mechanism, and began to shoot it. Curly looked up and began to shoot it as well.

Rollers appeared in the room and began to zoom across the floor, walls, and roof, and many angels began to come out of the corners of the room. The machine revealed itself a bit, and shot down a lightning bolt, which Quote dodged.

"I'll get the machine, you deal with the little guys," Curly said, and he nodded.

She proceeded to unload the weapon into the machine as Quote shot anything that came near and jumped over the rollers. This was so effective that in half a minute, the machine was fully revealed.

Quote looked up and immediately dove out of the way with a shout. The machine was a giant one of those rectangular press things.

It opened its lone eye and smashed through the floor, revealing an entrance deeper into the sanctuary. He jumped down.

"The Demon Crown will be reborn anew so long as Ballos' heart still beats. That is the power of his eternally enraged soul. It is intrinsically imbued into his evil creation, the Demon Crown."

He saw the machine sitting there, deactivated. He landed next to a door and walked through, revealing a statue room with four statues. The first two didn't even look human. All four had the Demon Crown on their heads, and he recognized the last one clearly as the Doctor. The third one looked familiar, and he knew why. It was the general they fought ten years ago.

There was text inscripted beneath each statue.

'Halda'

'Annachponae'

'Miakid'

And beneath the Doctor's statue...

'Fuyuhiko Date'

In spite, he shot down each statue, revealing them as four new, smaller statues that looked even more familiar. He saw the text change beneath each statue, and read them again.

'Quote'

'Toroko'

'King'

'Curly Brace'

Slightly unnerved, he left the statue room and fell down to where the large rectangle laid, and saw another door, which he went through, revealing a corridor.

He walked through, and saw a dog with a blank look staring at him.

"Please kill my master," It begged, "That is the only way Misery and Balrog can be freed, the only way to avoid a repetition of this tragedy. My master's name is Ballos. He is a man who cannot die."

The dog disappeared, confusing Quote, and he stepped forward, then took a deep breath.

He was incredibly nervous.

How were they going to kill an immortal, insane mage powerful enough to drag an entire island without any second thought?!

The adrenaline from earlier finally dissipated, and it suddenly felt as if twenty tons were on his back. He collapsed to the ground with a groan.

"You okay?" Curly asked, recieving another groan as an answer. "I think it's time I carry you for once," She advised, and he nodded. She untied the rope, and they both got up, Quote slowly and sluggishly.

"Curly... I want to tell you something," He said,

"Hm?"

"No matter what happens... it's been an honour to have been your partner, and to have been your friend. I wouldn't have had it any other way," He stated, taking off his booster and giving it to her.

She smiled warmly and hugged him.

"And the same goes for me," She said, then put on the booster and tied him around her back the same way he did before. "Our last battle together, together as partners yet again."

She walked through the door and fell down between some spikes, then boosted over and landed onto skulls and bones, which apalled both of them.

Ahead, sitting on an ominous throne, a strange-looking man in ominous green-white robes sat, then stood up, smiling and putting out his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"Welcome!"

Curly raised an eyebrow.

"You've done exceedingly well to get here. Allow me to introduce myself," The man said, "I am Ballos. Ages upon ages ago, in fear of enduring further punishment from an unjust king, I allowed my magic to run wild. My magic became such that even its own master was helpless to control it. As I looked on, unable to quell its fiery rage, it took from me my children, my dearest wife... their cries of agony soared above the flames."

Quote already had his hand on his Spur, but Curly felt sympathy for the mad mage.

Everyone has done things that they shouldn't have, that they regretted.

Did that really make him a bad person?

But then again, he _was_ grinning as he told his tragic past, soo...

"I could not avert my eyes, so I merely gazed upon the spectacle... laughing," Ballos stated, "Jenka sealed me away, but my magic yet rages out of control even now."

Ballos grinned even more and laughed with relief.

"Long, ever so long have I waited for this day, waited for the brave heroes who will finally bring my immense magical fury to its end," He said, "However, I will not be able to stop myself from fighting back, I can feel my hatred rising as I speak. Prepare yourself, brave heroes..."

Curly raised an eyebrow.

"Without further ado... kill me! Or..." Ballos said menacingly, then he opened his eyes, revealing one to be red and the other to be white, and his face twisted into a grin of pure insanity. "_**I WILL KILL YOU!**_"

The insane warlock charged towards Curly, who jumped over him. Both soldiers began firing on him with their weapons, and he charged into the air, flew over them, and slammed into the ground, barely missing.

The attack sent shockwaves that picked up some bones and zoomed across the chamber. They kept firing on him.

Ballos kept trying to charge at them, but Curly found it predictable and was able to evade. Eventually, he flew into the air, his robes fluttering with no breeze.

He raised his arms and Curly ran out of the way before a lightning bolt suddenly struck there.

She ran underneath the warlock and began running around to dodge the lightning, Quote shooting him with the Spur and Bubbler.

Ballos raised his arms even higher, sending lightning bolts crashing in a wave pattern across the room. Curly was unable to dodge, but Quote was the one who got hit.

He screamed as the electricity shot through his body, causing him to twitch uncontrollably.

Curly held the blue lightning gun in one hand and her machine gun in the other, and fired both on Ballos.

Quote regained control of his movements and fired a max Spur laser on him, and he fell to the ground, clutching his head in a silent scream.

They both knew this wasn't over. Ballos grinned evilly and jumped into the ceiling. Curly stood still, and Quote looked up, wondering what the mad warlock was doing.

He saw something begin to emerge from the ceiling.

"Curly, move now," He advised, and she dove out of the way before a large ball with Ballos' face on it could land on it.

It opened its eyes and grinned.

"Behold my true form!"

It jumped into the air, intent on crushing the two, but Curly moved out of the way. Quote stared at the ball, looking for a weak spot. He looked at the eyes.

"Go for the eyes!" He shouted, "Get me close and I'll slash them with my sword!"

"Okay!" Curly responded, then jumped up on top of the ball, right next to the eyes. Quote pulled out the Blade and Fireball and began to slash and burn Ballos' red eye. Curly shoved the Nemesis under her shoulder and began to fire upon Ballos' red eye as well as he began to jump about, trying to shake them off.

Green demon-like things were swarming the ceiling, and Curly shot those with her machine gun. The tactic worked well enough that Ballos stopped and closed his eyes. He began to shake, and Curly jumped off.

Quote watched in awe as Ballos summoned many smaller spheres with red eyes covered in spikes that completely surrounded him, then he raised to the roof and used the spheres to begin rolling along the room like a gigantic roller.

"Oh, _**SHIT!**_" He yelled, then covered his mouth, "...sorry."

"We have bigger problems than language!" Curly shouted, "What do we do?!"

"Kill me, or I will kill you! Do you not remember?!" Ballos shouted.

The giant ball rolled towards her, and she ducked underneath it as it rolled along, barely missing the smaller spheres.

"Shoot the eyes!" Quote yelled.

They looked up and both began shooting the spheres, and Ballos began dropping skulls as he rolled along the ceiling, but it was predictable enough to dodge. As Ballos rolled along the ground again, Curly stopped and shot the smaller spheres, but one of them careened straight for her.

It didn't hit her, but it cut the Tow Rope. Quote tumbled to the ground, then got up.

Ballos was back on the ceiling, and they both shot at him again. The spheres began to close their eyes, and as Ballos rolled towards them, the last one closed its eye.

They evaded the spheres, and when Ballos rolled along the roof again, he floated down into the very center of the room and released platforms that began to orbit around him.

The ground slowly began to be covered with spikes, so the two soldiers jumped onto the platforms. Ballos began to rumble until, to their horror, he burst, revealing many bleeding wounds that looked horrifically similar to faces screaming in agony.

The angels began to swarm around them, but they were dazed by the horror that they now orbited around. Curly was slashed across the stomach by one of them, and fell with a scream. Quote screamed her name.

He looked around, and the world seemed blurry. He was ready to pass out. The angels began to swarm all around him.

He needed to end this right now.

He readied himself, aimed for Ballos' left eye, and saw several angels charge at him

He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

He heard screams, and looked up to see Ballos explode, knocking both soldiers down to the ground.

The dark aura disappeared, and the perpetual rumbling of the island gradually stopped.

Curly got up and looked around.

"We... we did it," She said, "We actually did it!"

Quote held his hand out for a high five, and she took it gladly, causing a loud smacking noise to resonate through the Seal Chamber.

"The island's stopped falling, too. Was the force pulling the island downward destroyed when we beat him?" She asked, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Either way, it seems our work is finally done. We can finally relax."

Quote sighed with relief.

"**IT... HURTS.**"


	25. Chapter 25: Memories

Chapter 25: Memories

They both looked around, confused. Quote grabbed his Spur.

"**SO... HOT. THE PAIN.**"

The walls suddenly constricted.

"What?!" Curly shouted.

The walls began to constrict more, and they backed into the center of the room, bumping into eachother.

"The wall!" Curly screamed.

"What in the name of hell?!" Quote shouted.

"**HELP ME... IT HURTS... SO... HOT.**"

"We're going to be crushed in here!" Curly screamed, and they turned around and looked at eachother, silently asking eachother what to do.

There was nothing they could do. The only exit was blocked.

Curly screamed and buried her head in Quote's shoulder. He closed his eyes and hugged her tightly.

Why?

Why, after all of this?

Why must they die now?

He'd do anything, _anything _to get Curly out of there. She didn't deserve this.

Anything...

He was overwhelmed by deja vu.

_"You arrogant, ignorant fools! You will regret your entire existence!"_

_BANG!_

_A female scream._

_"CURLY!"_

_A maniacal cackle._

_Rage. Pure, unadulterated malice._

_"You... you... I will make you feel every single piece of pain, every drop of agony you inflict on others. You... __**I will make you suffer!**__"_

He remembered everything.

And he finally decided how he saw his partner.

He loved her. More than anything.

And they were both going to die before he could do anything about it.

Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he closed his eyes.

"_**HEY!**_"

A certain, rectangular adversary landed next to them, and they both turned to look at him.

"You!" Curly shouted with relief.

"Just like Misery said! Grab onto me!" Balrog yelled, and they did so. He then jumped into the roof, smashing through the ceiling in the nick of time before the walls slammed together.

Quote closed his eyes, and the perpetual crashing and banging noises above them came to a stop.

"How is your head?" Curly asked.

"A-a bit beat up," Balrog responded uncertainly, and Quote opened his eyes, revealing him and Curly on top of a flying Balrog, far above the island.

He sighed heavily with relief.

"Close! Such a narrow escape!" Balrog exclaimed.

"I thought we were done for this time..." Curly muttered, "Looks like we owe you another one."

"Oh, there's no need for that. I was just doing as Misery asked," Balrog responded.

Wait, what?

"Misery? As in... that witch?" Curly asked.

"The very same," Balrog answered.

"I thought she hated us. Heck, I thought _you _hated us!" Curly grumbled.

"Oh, no. Misery is... well... that's just her personality. She always acts miserable and cranky. Supposedly, that's why Jenka named her that. She foresaw her perpetual misery and decided to name her after it," Balrog explained, "Besides, you two killed Ballos. Because of you, we don't need to take orders from anybody!"

"I thought you two were just jerks, but I guess it was just the Crown," Curly muttered.

"Well, we basically asked for it. After all, it was Misery who had Ballos make the Demon Crown in the first place," Balrog reasoned, and Quote nodded slowly.

"Huh, you don't say," Curly mumbled.

"I _do _say," Balrog countered.

Some silence.

"So..." Balrog said

"So?" Curly asked.

"What'll you two do now?" Balrog inquired, "I can take you anywhere!"

...

"Well, now that this is over, I just want to live somewhere calm with a nice view," Curly stated.

"Okay..." Balrog muttered, "You know..."

"What?" Curly asked.

"Can I tag along?" Balrog asked, "Please?"

"Of course!" Curly exclaimed.

"Really?" Balrog shouted.

"Yeah, we can live together, just the three of us!" Curly explained happily. The thought made Quote smile. "I'll even let you pick the spot where we live! Just find someplace nice."

"Okay, _hang on ti-_" Balrog shouted, but was cut off.

"_**WAIT!**_" Quote yelled.

"Uh, what?" Balrog asked.

"Take us back to the island. I have to... tie some loose ends," Quote muttered, "We can go after."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Curly said, "After all, I still need to find my Mimiga kids again."

"Okay, I'll take you back to the Outer Wall, and you two can do whatever you need. Just come back to the balcony when you're ready to leave," Balrog stated, then flew down to the island. He landed, and the two soldiers jumped down.

They went back to the Mimiga Village, and all of the Mimiga were already back to their normal lives, which made them both smile.

"Hey! It's them!" One shouted, "Everyone, get over here!"

All of the Mimiga gathered around them and began cheering for them. Curly spotted four smaller Mimigas in the crowd, and Quote spotted one with a cap.

Quote walked over to Jack and nodded in salutation.

"So, you pulled it off," Jack said, "I knew you had it in you the moment I saw you. Arthur can rest well knowing we have a new guardian."

Quote smiled sadly and unsheathed the Blade, and held it out to Jack.

"King's blade... so it's true..." He lamented, "I guess that makes me the new leader. I... don't know how to react to that."

"Take it," Quote said.

"No... I can't. If you're holding onto it, then it must mean he wanted you to have it," Jack stated.

"He only wanted me to have it so I could use it against the Doctor, who is dead. I know it in my heart that deep down he wanted it to rest with you," Quote explained, and Jack nodded sadly, taking the sheath and sword. "I cannot be here to protect you, but I know that the village will rest well in your hands."

Jack slung the sheath over his shoulder and nodded.

"True or not, I'll certainly do my best," He promised, "Thank you. You truly are the saviour of this island."

Meanwhile, Curly was tearing up as she looked down at her children. She didn't know what to say.

"So... you all live here now?" She asked through tears.

"Yeah! This nice lady named Chaco decided to adopt us. It's much nicer living here than in the Sand Zone," One explained.

Curly nodded sadly. "Then I guess my work is done," She said, "Whoever she is, she'll probably do a much better job raising you than I ever could. I love you all, and I want you to know that I'm proud of you."

They all hugged her.

"Maybe you can visit?" One asked, and she nodded sadly.

Maybe...

The door to Arthur's house opened, and Momorin, Sue, Kazuma, Itoh, and Professor Booster all emerged from the house speaking among themselves.

Quote grinned from ear to ear and approached them. Curly got up and followed.

Sue ran up to him and hugged him. Unsure of how to respond, he just patted her on the head.

"So, you did it?" Momorin asked, and Quote nodded. "I knew you could do it."

"Impressive, most impressive," Booster grumbled, "So, this must be your partner?"

Quote nodded again, and Curly chuckled.

"I can introduce myself, y'know," She said, "Hi! Nice to meet all of you. I'm Curly Brace!"

"Isn't that a key?" Kazuma asked.

"Well yes, but," Itoh said, "Stranger names have existed... no offense."

"None taken!" Curly exclaimed.

"So, what are you all gonna do now?" Sue asked.

"We're gonna go live somewhere together," Curly said.

No response...

"Alone?" Sue asked.

Quote nodded slowly.

"So this is goodbye, then," Kazuma muttererd.

"Not necessarily," Booster said, then handed a box to Quote, "Wherever you may go, set up this computer and maybe we can visit sometime. Or vice versa."

Quote nodded again, then smiled.

"I... have to say something," He said, "This adventure has taught me a lot, and I am sure to cherish it for the rest of my life, along with my other memories. I am glad to have met all of you, so I must say... thank you, for getting me into this mess in the first place."

They all nodded, and Curly raised an eyebrow.

"Quote, you never told me you recovered your memories," She said with faked irritation. He smiled nonchalantly.

"It never came up, and it only just happened," He responded.

"Quote... an interesting name," Momorin said.

Quote chuckled.

"I also see Misery's spells haven't been broken," He stated.

"I heard my name."

A trilling noise pierced the room, and Misery descended to the ground.

The Sakamotos and Itoh gasped and prepared to run, but Quote simply smirked.

"So, you two dunces actually did it. You killed my uncle," She muttered, "Considering I sent Balrog to save your lives, do not expect anything from me."

"We weren't expecting anything," Curly said.

"However..." Misery continued, then turned to the Sakamotos. "I do believe that I did something that I should reverse," She stated.

She raised her staff and chanted a spell, and something happened.

Sue and Itoh were now human.

Sue had tan skin and green hair like her brother and mother, and Itoh was more pale and had blue hair.

"Wha..." Itoh said.

"I'm back!" Sue shouted, "Yeah!"

"My work here is done. Farewell," Misery said, then disappeared.

"I think we're done here, too," Curly said, "We have a friend waiting for us. Come on, Quote."

Quote nodded, and the two entered the house and went in the teleporter.

"We'll contact you guys as soon as we can!" Curly promised, and they all nodded.

"Bye!"

"Have fun!"

They emerged in the Egg Corridor and made their way back to the Outer Wall. When they got there, Balrog was sitting down and looking up at the sky.

"Enjoying the view?" Curly asked.

"I suppose," Balrog responded, "Are you finally ready to go?"

"Yep!" Curly said.

"Okay, hop on!" Balrog said, and they climbed on top of him. Balrog prepared to jump off, but was interrupted by a very loud whirring noise.

"What?" Quote said.

A helicopter flew in and landed on the Outer Wall. Out stepped some men. Most of them were in military equipment, but one was in a black suit and was wearing shades, and had sleek black hair.

"Who are they?" Balrog asked.

"Humans, from the surface," Curly answered.

Quote scrutinized them and noticed the flag on each soldiers' shoulder.

"Specifically, Americans," Quote continued, "What are they doing here?"

The two jumped down and walked over to the group. The sharp-dressed man looked at them.

"Are you two Mr. Marck and Ms. Brace?" He asked.

Marck was Quote's surname.

They both nodded.

"I'm going to need you to come with me," The man stated, "The president of the United States of America wishes to speak with you. Immediately."

Quote frowned. Another distraction?

"Can he come along?" Curly asked, motioning toward Balrog. The man seemed deep in thought.

"If it- he doesn't cause trouble and can fit in the helicopter without causing it to crash, then yes," The man answered, and they all piled into the helicopter.

Quote shook his head.

Why would the president of the United States want to speak to them?

They'd just have to wait and find out.

The helicopter ride was short, as the helicopter was descending to a military installation beneath the island.

The view from up above was... beautiful. If only it weren't for the racket of the helicopter and the soldiers, it'd have been nice.

When they landed, Quote and Curly got out. Balrog prepared to get out, but was stopped by the soldiers.

"Just wait here," Curly said.

"Fine," Balrog grumbled.

They walked into the base, escorted by the government man and the soldiers, and walked into a building. Ahead laid a circular table with people seated on the outside, and each person had a flag on the table in front of them.

One for Russia, one for China, one for Japan, one for Canada, and one for the U.S.

Talking could be heard, until everyone stopped and was looking at them.

"Speak."

"It's... an honour to be here in front of you all, after all this time," Curly said.

Quote wasn't feeling like being subtle.

"Why are we here?" He asked.

"Straight to the point. Some very odd events were sighted on the island, such as a research team going offline, the Demon Crown being rumoured to be stolen, and then the island suddenly started crashing to the ground. We figured you two would know what happened after your ten year disappearance."

"Ten years ago, we fought and killed General Miakid, as we had learned that he planned to assault the Earth. We were wounded in the process and fell into comas, and we slept for ten years, and woke up without our memories," Curly explained.

"So, you did fulfill your original goal."

"Not at that point, as the Demon Crown was not destroyed," Quote responded, "But, when we woke up recently, long story short I found and killed the Doctor, but he came back from the dead using a magical artifact he created and possessed the core of the island, so I destroyed it. That is why the island began to fall."

"And why did it stop?"

"We found what was causing the island to fall, an insane warlock sealed inside the island, who created the Demon Crown. We entered his prison and killed him, which stopped the island from falling and destroyed the Demon Crown for good," Curly answered, "Now our mission is complete."

Silence.

"Is that all?" Quote asked.

"No, that'll be all. We are forever in your debt."

They bowed and left, being escorted back to the helicopter. Balrog jumped out.

"Can we finally go?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Curly said, and they climbed on top of him.

"Okay... _haaang ooon tiiiight!_"

They shot off into the sky.


	26. Chapter 26: Amnesia No More

Chapter 26: Amnesia No More

**A/N: The end. I have decided that I will either write a prequel or sequel, but I'm leaning more toward the former. If you like this and want to know more about the pasts I've given our two soldiers, look out for that. This was my least popular story by far, but I don't care. Either way, I appreciate what feedback I have been given by you all and look forward to writing more in the future.**

They landed roughly, causing Quote and Curly to be roughly shaken off and tumble on the ground.

"Oops! Sorry, hehe," Balrog said.

Quote grunted. That was unpleasant. They got up and looked around in awe.

They were high up on a very large cliff face with a forest behind them and a sheer drop ahead of them. They could see a speck in the sky, near the horizon, and guessed that it was the floating island.

Quote sat down and admired the view. Curly sat down next to him and smiled.

He decided that he wanted to talk to her about... things.

"Uhh, Balrog," He said, "Can you... uh... go start collecting wood for our house?"

Balrog's eyes narrowed.

"I can see straight through you. I know what you're trying to do," He accused, then smirked. "But I'll give you some privacy. I was planning on doing that anyway."

Balrog jumped away with an 'Oh Yeah!'

"What was he even talking about?" Curly asked.

"I... wanted to talk to you," Quote said uncertainly.

"Okay, about what?" She asked.

Quote's heart began to beat faster.

"Um... well... I won't beat around the bush..." He muttered nervously, "I... I think... I-I... yeah, I think-"

Curly put her hand over his mouth to silence him, then gave him a look of minor annoyance.

"Just spit it out already," She demanded.

He took a deep breath.

"I think... I'm in love with you," He stated.

She clearly wasn't expecting that.

Her eyes widened in surprise, making him even more nervous.

"If it's all the same to you, we can still just be fr-" He said, but was cut off again when she kissed him.

Now he was very surprised, too.

He stumbled backward, barely catching himself before he could fall over.

Curly laughed whole-heartedly.

"So... so you do love me," He muttered. She shook her head slowly, a smirk on her face.

"Of course I do, you dolt! Why else do you think I kissed you back in the Plantation?" She said, amused.

"I... I dunno, to cheer me up?" He mumbled.

She facepalmed.

They sat down next to eachother.

He put her arm around her shoulder.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked.

"Well, I think I know what I want to do," She said, then kissed him again before he could speak.

Instead of falling backward, he returned it.

For the two of them, everything else just seemed to disappear.

Until a certain someone decided to return at the worst possible moment.

Balrog crashed down with his typical 'Oh Yeah!'.

It was possibly the only time where Quote was legitimately jumpscared by something.

He jumped into the air with a shout of alarm, and then stood up and turned to Balrog, staring into his soul.

Curly giggled, and Balrog raised an eyebrow.

"Okay... what did I miss?" He asked.

"Nothing," Curly lied.

"Mhm, sure. I know something happened. Mr. Edgy here doesn't startle easily," He grumbled.

"You only missed us talking about the future. Now drop the subject," Quote hissed.

Balrog frowned.

"You'd think you'd be treating the guy who saved your lives a bit nicer," He taunted.

Quote looked down.

"Sorry," He whispered, and Balrog laughed.

"Nah, it's fine," He said, "Well? What do we do now?"

The three sat down, looking over in the distance.

"Right now, this very moment," Curly muttered, "We relax and watch the stars."

All three of them laid down and looked up at the night sky.

"Hey, I don't think I've seen that one before," Balrog muttered. He got completely absorbed into the stargazing.

Quote looked over and smiled at Curly, and she looked over at him and returned the smile.

He held out his hand, and she took it.

This was all they needed right now.

Eachother.


End file.
